


All I Want Is You This Christmas

by Liyyah



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-11
Updated: 2016-01-10
Packaged: 2018-05-06 05:08:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 24,674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5404187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Liyyah/pseuds/Liyyah
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Our school is doing Secret Santa and I got you au</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. I Hate Secret Santa

It was during Homeroom when Mrs. Clarke announced that it would be a fun idea for the class to do Secret Santa. Her suggestion was met with a chorus of groans. No one wanted to buy a gift for someone that they didn’t even know or like.

But their teacher managed to send a glare to all thirty something of her students before insisting that it was a great way to get into the Christmas spirit. Felicity had to bite her tongue to stop herself from blurting out that she was Jewish so the whole Christmas spirit speech was pointless to her.

However, she liked Mrs. Clarke so she kept her mouth shut, trying to be a good student as she kept all her complaints to herself. She was going to have to stretch the little bit of money she had for the season even thinner. Great.

One by one, her classmates got up from their seats to pick a name from the hat their teacher was holding.

When Felicity’s turn came, she did the same, walking up to the front of the room and unenthusiastically choosing a tiny piece of paper from the batch.

She stood there, unfolding it before she made her way back to her desk to make sure that she didn’t get her own name.

And as her eyes scanned those six letters printed on the page, her heart damn near stopped and the whole world seemed to stand still.

Of all the people she could have gotten.

It just had to be the boy she had been crushing on for months.

And not just any boy.

No, the one boy who had everything in the universe.

Oliver Queen.

Felicity had to mentally yell at her legs to work so she could get back to her seat. She was a mess. A goddamn mess. She couldn’t even stop staring at his name on the paper, as if she was reading it wrong or it would change any second to someone that she couldn’t care less about.

But no.

She had to buy a present for Oliver Queen.

Felicity pushed away the little voice at the back of her head that whispered that it was fate because really that was just stupid and if anything this whole ordeal would cause him to laugh at her once he saw whatever shitty gift she would end up buying him.

Okay that wasn’t true he was nicer than that. He would lie and tell her that he liked her crappy present. But she would know the truth.

Sighing, she leaned back into her chair, detesting Mrs. Clarke for forcing them to do this and silently grumbling to herself that it should have been against the rules to put a billionaire’s name in with the rest of them, especially scholarship students like her.

It was on that day Felicity Smoak decided that she absolutely hated Secret Santa.

 

As soon as the bell rang, Felicity rushed out the door, needing to get away from all of her classmates for a while, especially a certain billionaire.

It was only when she was almost to her next class, did it hit her what subject she had next. And with who.

Muttering a series of expletives under her breath, Felicity slowed her walk, suddenly dreading Chemistry and trying to prepare herself for seeing Oliver.

She would keep her cool.

He wouldn’t know a thing.

She was going to be as unsuspicious as possible.

It would all be fine.

Felicity made her way into the lab, sitting at her usual spot as she continuously reassured herself that she wouldn’t screw up.

In fact, she was so lost in thought that she didn’t even notice when Oliver took his seat beside her.

“Hey,” he said, causing Felicity to jump.

“Oh. Hi Oliver!” she replied, a bit too enthusiastically and okay she definitely needed to tone that down a little.

“Are you okay?” he asked slowly, eyeing her quizzically.

“Yep. I’m fine. Totally fine,” she answered, nodding her head and oh god she was so bad at this whole playing it cool thing.

Fortunately he dropped the subject, choosing not to question her further about her strange behaviour.              

 _Unfortunately_ the next words out of his mouth were, “So who did you get for Secret Santa?”

And for the second time that morning, Felicity’s world stood still.

Her eyes widened as panic quickly seized her and before she could stop herself she blurted out, “You.”

Fuck fuck fuck.

She sucked in a breath the second those three letters rolled off the tip of her tongue, wishing with every fibre of her being that she could snatch it back from the air but it was too late.

She fucking blew it.

However, much to her surprise, Oliver began laughing.

It took a split second to register in Felicity’s brain that he thought she was joking.

The best thing that she could have done in this situation was laugh with him and pretend that she was just kidding and play along.

She had an out.

She could fix this.

But because Felicity Smoak was the worst goddamn liar in the whole universe, she simply sat there, frozen with her wide panicky eyes and the stupidest look on her face.

“Wait, you’re serious?” Oliver asked, taking in her expression.

“Surprise,” Felicity said weakly.

“Oh,” was all he said with a strange surprised look on his face but Felicity was too busy dying inside to pay much attention to him.

“So...on that note, what do you want for Christmas?” she asked hopefully.

At least now that he knew, he would be able to help her out. And maybe her gift wouldn’t be a total disaster after all.

“Honestly I have no idea,” Oliver responded with a little frown.

Scratch that. Her gift _would_ be a total disaster because Oliver was the most unhelpful person on the planet.

“Gee thanks for all the help,” Felicity remarked sarcastically, causing Oliver to roll his eyes.

“I’ll think of something don’t worry,” he reassured her.

“You better. Because I have no idea what to get you,” Felicity said. “Also could you please keep in mind that our budgets are very different.”

Oliver laughed at her little reminder and Felicity had to quell the butterflies that arose in her stomach every time she heard that sound.

“Felicity I’d love anything you get me, sight unseen just because it’s from you,” Oliver stated and the damn butterflies only increased tenfold.

Felicity was struggling to find words, blushing too hard to even properly look him in the eye when Professor Stein walked in and Felicity had never been so thankful for the presence of a teacher.

Suddenly, books were opened and the light chatter that filled the room came to a halt as work began. But for the rest of the period, Felicity couldn’t help but replay Oliver’s words over and over.

She was so fucked.

 

Felicity plopped down at her usual seat at their lunch table, feeling absolutely exhausted. She had spent her entire day so far worrying over what to get Oliver.

“Hey,” Laurel said, snapping her out of her Oliver filled thoughts.

“Oh hi,” she absently replied.

“Are you okay?” Sara asked and Felicity sighed at the appearance of that damn question again and no she was not okay.

“Guess who I got for Secret Santa?” she asked drily.

Her inquiry was met with a pair of shrugs from the two sisters.

Without a word, she looked them both dead in the eye as she pulled out the piece of paper with Oliver’s name from her pocket and slid it across the table.

“Oh shit!”

“Damn.”

Felicity only nodded at the little exclamations that left their mouths when they saw whose name was written.

“So what are you gonna get him?” Sara asked.

“I don’t know!” Felicity groaned. “What do you get a billionaire who has literally everything?”

“A shred of decency?” Laurel suggested, earning herself a glare from the blonde.

Laurel could not, for the life of her, understand what Felicity saw in Oliver Queen. In her opinion, her best friend was much too good for the school’s manwhore.

Felicity had given up arguing with Laurel a while ago, tired of telling her that he was actually a nice guy and the number of girls he’d been with was over exaggerated. But that didn’t mean that she couldn’t silently shoot death glares at her.

“He said he’d let me know what he wanted though so hopefully that helps out,” Felicity stated before taking a sip of her water.

“Wait, why is he letting you know that?” Sara inquired curiously and Felicity froze, almost chocking on her water as she realised that she fucked up again.

Today was so not her day.

“Well...I sort of maybe told him that I picked his name...” Felicity said slowly, avoiding their eyes.

“Felicity!” they both yelled at the same time.

“You ruined the whole thing!” Sara shouted.

“It was an accident!” Felicity retaliated, defending herself.

The Lance sisters were very big on the whole Secret Santa tradition and not letting your person know that you got them.

“You could have made this work for you and surprised him with a really great gift,” Laurel said.

“Since when are you pro Oliver Queen?” Felicity snorted.

“I’m not,” she replied, rolling her eyes. “But you really like the guy for whatever reason and this would have been a good way to get him to like you back.”

“Yes but Laurel my sweet friend you’re getting ahead of yourself here because again, what great gift can you possibly buy for a billionaire?” Felicity shot back exasperatedly.

“You’ll figure something out don’t worry,” Laurel said softly.

“Yeah it’s just a Secret Santa gift you need to chill out,” Sara stated and this time it was her who was on the receiving end of one of Felicity’s glares.

“Besides, if you can’t come up with anything you could get him a pair of underwear,” she continued and a glare wasn’t enough this time as Felicity grabbed a piece of broccoli from her tray and flung it at the other blonde who quickly dodged her attack.

“And attach a note saying _can’t wait to see you in this later_ ,” Laurel laughed as she teased her and Felicity sent broccoli flying in her direction too.

For the rest of their lunch period, Felicity was subject to their taunting and half her food ended up on the floor with all of them yelling in protest and behaving like wild animals.

It was a wonder they didn’t get in trouble.

As they made Felicity turned redder than a tomato, she decided that yep, she definitely, with every fibre of her being, detested Secret Santa.


	2. You Are Enough

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver tells Felicity what he wants for Christmas.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I may or may not have projected a lot of myself onto Felicity...oops.

Days had passed since Felicity picked that godforsaken name from that goddamn hat and she still had no idea what to get the damn boy because every day when she asked him what he wanted he always gave the same exasperating reply of _I don’t know_.

So today when Oliver walked in class and Felicity asked her usual question, she was expecting those three annoying words.

However, much to her surprise and delight, he actually had a real answer this time.

“Well...there is one thing I would like,” Oliver said slowly.

“What?” Felicity inquired excitedly, too happy to pay attention to the way he was suspiciously avoiding her eyes.

“A date,” he stated.

In just one moment, all the air left Felicity’s lungs.

Butterflies and flowers and fireworks and every imaginable thing appeared in her stomach as she tried to process his request, unable to believe that this was actually happening.

_Was Oliver Queen asking her out on a date?_

“With Laurel,” he finished.

What?

Seeing the confusion written on her features, Oliver rushed to explain himself.

“I know it’s a weird thing to ask and it’s okay if you can’t get that but I’ve sort of liked her for a while and you’re her best friend so I was wondering if you’d be able to help me out a little.”

And in just one moment, Felicity’s heart shattered.

“Oh,” was all she could manage as she nodded her head, desperately trying to hide the fact that he just stabbed her in the chest.

“I’ll see what I can do,” she finally said, struggling to keep her voice from shaking.

“Thanks Felicity you’re the best,” Oliver grinned at her.

His smile usually made her heart do flip flops but this time all it did was send  tidal waves of sadness in her direction, threatening to drown her right there.

She was the best but not good enough for him apparently.

Not like Laurel.

But Felicity merely flashed him a small smile in response, secretly thanking God when Professor Stein entered the room two seconds later.

She spent the whole class avoiding Oliver, pretending to be super absorbed in work as she cradled the broken shards of her heart.

It was just her luck that he would like her best friend.

She was so stupid to believe even for a second that he could possibly have feelings for her. She was the dorky scholarship girl whose mom was a waitress and he was a billionaire who had the world at his fingertips. Someone like him would never like someone like her.

She was fucking delusional to think that she had a chance with him.

As soon as the bell rang, she rushed out of the room, needing to get away from Oliver as fast as possible because she could only hide that she was falling apart for so long.

 

Felicity didn’t meet Laurel and Sara for lunch that day, choosing to hide out at the library instead. She had received endless texts from them, asking where she was and if she was alright but she didn’t even reply and she hated herself for it but she just wanted to be alone.

So she curled up on the floor in the corner of the room, leaning against one of the shelves as she pretended to read some book when in reality, she was wallowing in self pity and misery.

Felicity knew she was being stupid about this whole thing because Oliver was just a crush and he not liking her didn’t mean it was the end of the world but she couldn’t help feeling shitty about it.

She had never wanted to come to Starling Academy, knowing it was filled with rich kids who lived in the good part of the city and looked down on people like her. She didn’t even know that her mother had applied her for the school and that a lot of her ‘extra shifts’ were actually meetings with the principal and school board. So when Donna excitedly announced one day that she would be attending the best school in the city, Felicity wasn’t very enthusiastic. But she didn’t exactly have a choice because her mother wasn’t about to let her daughter’s talents be wasted. And then she dangled the fact that she would have a better chance of getting into MIT and well that was all Felicity needed to hear.

So she braved the condescending looks that she received with her knockoff brands and second hand textbooks and the whispers from everyone in her grade about how she was a year younger than all of them and apparently some sort of genius and the cruel jokes that she obviously needed brains to make up for the fact that she had no beauty.

But then Laurel and Sara befriended her and she was partnered up with the infamous Oliver Queen for Chemistry and much to her surprise, he was nice to her.

It was during her second week when Helena dropped some of her food on the floor and loudly demanded that Felicity clean it up because the only future she had was being a janitor. Everyone in the cafeteria had laughed at her and Felicity was near tears but before Laurel or Sara could rush in to save her, it was Oliver who strode up to them, looking Helena right in the eye as he kneeled down and used a napkin to pick her food off the floor. Wordlessly, he dropped it on to her tray, glaring at her so hard that if looks could kill she would already be six feet under. Then, he took Felicity’s hand in his, gently leading her towards the table that he and Tommy frequented while everyone in the room silently looked on.

It was so quiet that if a pin dropped, they would all be able to hear it.

Oliver Queen didn’t defend people.

Oliver Queen didn’t invite people to sit with him and his best friend.

And he certainly, most definitely didn’t clean food off the floor.

But he did it all for her.

“Thanks,” Felicity had mumbled once she found her voice but Oliver waved her statement away, letting her know not to worry about it.

That day she sat with the two richest teenagers in Starling City, laughing at their jokes and yelling at Tommy for stealing her fries while every single student tried to figure out what was so special about her.

That day, the entire school learned not to mess with Felicity Smoak. Oliver didn’t need to say a word but the underlying threat was evident that if anyone so much as looked at her the wrong way, they would have to deal with him.

So at some point, with all the smiles in the hallway and nice greetings in the morning, she forgot that she was different. She forgot there was a line separating them from her.

But Oliver’s confession that he liked her best friend brought all of her insecurities rushing back and just like that it was her first day again and she had a huge sign plastered on her forehead saying _not good enough._

“There you are,” Sara’s voice broke Felicity out of her thoughts.

She looked up from the book she was aimlessly flipping through to find the Lance sisters heading towards her.

“We’ve been looking for you forever. What are you doing here?” Laurel asked.

“I had some work to do so I thought I’d get started. I just forgot to tell you sorry,” she lied, avoiding their eyes.

No sooner had the words left her mouth when Sara reached out and grabbed the book from her hands.

“Hey!” Felicity protested but the blonde shot her a look that shut her up.

“This is a cookbook Felicity,” Sara stated, examining the book. “What class is this for exactly?”

“What’s going on with you?” Laurel inquired, her voice laced with concern.

“It’s nothing,” Felicity mumbled.

“Felicity,” Sara said in her no nonsense voice, sounding a lot like her mother.

“Oliver told me what he wanted for Secret Santa today,” Felicity sighed, knowing they would never give up.

“Wait...isn’t that a good thing?” Sara asked.

“What does he want?” Laurel questioned.

“A date...” Felicity trailed off, suddenly paying a lot of attention to her hands.

“With you,” she finished, looking up and meeting Laurel’s gaze.

“What?” Laurel asked in surprise.

“Apparently he likes you,” Felicity said.

“Well shit,” Sara muttered.

“I’m so sorry Felicity. I don’t know how...I don’t even feel that way about him!”

“I know and you don’t have to apologise. It’s not your fault you’re gorgeous Laurel.”

Okay wow she really needed to tone down the bitterness.

“Wait that’s not fair I’m sorry-” Felicity began but Laurel cut her off.

“Just shut up and listen to me. Oliver is stupidest person on the planet for not liking you. You are the most amazing girl in this whole school and absolutely no one can pull off short skirts like you. Seriously, your legs are to die for. And then there’s the fact that you can hack into anything. You’re a goddamn computer genius and you’re probably gonna take over the world before you’re thirty. So please believe me when I say that it’s his loss. Not yours. _His._ ”

“Yeah what she said,” Sara added. “Except that I’m the most amazing girl in school.”

Felicity laughed with her eyes filled with tears and she was immediately filled with so much love for these girls.

“You’re gonna make me cry,” she complained and before she knew it, Laurel had her arms around her from one side and Sara was on the other.

Yep she was definitely crying.

“Now you’re squishing me,” Felicity mumbled but she didn’t mind one bit.

And by way her friends only squeezed her harder, they obviously knew.

In the arms of Laurel and Sara, Felicity realised that she didn’t feel inadequate anymore. She realised that she was in fact, more than enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a headache right now so I apologise if there's any mistakes in this chapter because I didn't edit it properly. Anyway hope you guys like it and thanks for the great response on this story so far!


	3. One Big Goddamn Mess

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity gets dragged on a party and a drunk Tommy spills a secret.

Felicity sat on a little couch in the corner of the room, occasionally sipping her Coke and counting down the minutes until she would get to leave.

Parties weren’t her thing at all but Laurel and Sara had dragged her to this one, insisting that a good party could help anyone feel better and that all she needed to forget about Oliver was to get drunk. And she was sure that they had every intention of filling her with alcohol which was why she snuck off as soon as they walked in, finding a relatively quiet spot and spending her time scrolling through Tumblr or playing Candy Crush.

Suddenly, her peace was disrupted by someone plopping down next to her, causing the whole couch to shake and forcing her to look up from her phone, where she found Tommy Merlyn struggling to sit himself upright.

“Hey! Felicity!” he called out as he noticed her.

“Hi,” she replied. “You okay?”

“I’m fine. I am great,” he slurred.

“How much did you have to drink?” she questioned because he smelled like a bar. Or maybe ten.

Tommy merely shrugged in response.

“So why are you here all alone by yourself?” he asked with a little frown.

“I don’t really like parties,” she said. “I only came because Laurel and Sara dragged me and I sort of ditched them.”

“Oh,” was all he said, a look that seemed a lot like sadness appearing on his features.

“Hey,” she said. “What’s wrong?”

“What? Oh nothing I’m fine.”

“Tommy I may be the worst liar in the world but I can always tell when someone isn’t telling me the truth. Talk to me,” she demanded.

“No it’s just...when you mentioned Laurel...” he trailed off, looking down at the floor and avoiding Felicity’s gaze.

“What-” Felicity began but then it hit her.

That all too familiar look reminded her of herself these days. Especially when she was talking about Oliver.

“Tommy do you like Laurel?” Felicity asked.

His neck snapped up as he stared at her with wide eyes.

“How did you know?” he whispered.

“Well you looked all sad when I mentioned her name so I took a wild guess,” she replied.

“Wow,” Tommy said in amazement. “You’re really good.”

Felicity couldn’t help but smile smugly at his words.

“But you can’t tell anyone!” he exclaimed all of a sudden. “Not even Oliver. Him most of all actually.”

“I won’t don’t worry,” she said softly. “I’m guessing you know that he likes her too.”

Tommy sighed heavily as he nodded and the sorrowful expression he wore broke her heart a little.

“That sucks for me too,” she said, deciding it was only fair that if she knew his secret, that he should know hers too.

“How?” he asked confusedly.

“Because I like Oliver,” she stated.

“Are you serious?” Tommy shouted in surprise. “Holy shit.”

Felicity nodded as she watched him try to process this new information in his drunken state.

“Wait. Stay here I’ll right be back,” Tommy said before rushing off, stumbling as he went.

True to his word, he returned in less than a minute with a napkin and pen in his hand.

“Where’d you get those?” she inquired.

“I got the napkin from the kitchen and I stole the pen from some kid,” he answered nonchalantly and Felicity shook her head because what on earth was she going to do with this boy.

“Okay so,” he began, placing the napkin on his leg and drawing a circle. “That’s Oliver.”

He then proceeded to write Oliver’s name in the circle. Next, he drew another one and connected the two shapes with an arrow. He wrote _Felicity_ in the second circle.

“That’s you,” he told her. “You like Oliver.”

He drew a third circle and wrote Laurel’s name in this one. Then he connected Oliver and Laurel’s circles with an arrow and Laurel and Felicity’s with a dotted line.

“Because Oliver likes Laurel and you and Laurel are best friends,” he explained.

Tommy added a fourth circle next, writing his own name inside and connecting his circle to Laurel’s and then Oliver’s using the same dotted line to show that they were best friends. Then he added an extra squiggly line connecting his and Laurel’s circles again.

Finished with his work, Tommy held up the napkin, examining the little diagram.

“What a shit show,” he stated.

“Wait what’s that extra line between you and Laurel?” Felicity asked curiously, pointing at the last one he drew.

“Oh I didn’t know how to show a _we once made out at a party when we were drunk then made a pact never to speak of it again_ relationship on a map,” he said.

“You what?!” Felicity exclaimed.

“Fuck,” Tommy swore, going over his words. “I just spoke of it.”

“Tommy!” Felicity yelled.

“What?”

“You and Laurel made out?”

She couldn’t believe she had just asked that question she couldn’t believe that this was actually something that happened holy shit.

“Shhhh!” Tommy whispered fiercely, glaring at her.

“Sorry,” Felicity apologised. “But explain.”

“It was at Max Fuller’s party,” Tommy sighed. “We both got really drunk and somehow ended up in one of the rooms and ended up spending a really long time making out.”

“I can’t believe she didn’t tell me about this,” Felicity mumbled.

“Well the next day she made me swear never to tell anyone about it. It was obvious that she regretted it,” Tommy said, a hint of sadness present in his voice.

“But that’s when you started having feelings for her?” she asked quietly.

He nodded in response and Felicity’s heart went out to him.

“I couldn’t stop thinking about her after. It felt like more than just fun you know? Like she's the only girl I ever want to kiss again for like forever. And I really wanted to tell Oliver but I had to keep my promise to her. So I never said anything. And then one day all of a sudden he’s telling me how he thinks she’s really pretty and how he thinks he has a crush on her so there’s no way I can say anything now.”

“I’m sorry,” Felicity said softly.

“Me too,” he said. “About you liking someone who likes your best friend.”

“Yeah that sucks too,” Felicity muttered.

“Does she feel the same way about him?” Tommy asked.

“No. Not at all.”

They both sat in silence for a few moments, letting the loud music drown their thoughts.

“We’re such a mess,” Tommy said after a while.

“Yep,” she agreed.

One big goddamn mess.

Suddenly, her phone began vibrating and she looked down to find a text from Laurel saying that she and Sara were outside if she was ready to leave.

Felicity was ready to leave since she walked in this damn place.

“They’re ready to go so I’m heading out,” Felicity said.

“Okay. See you at school tomorrow,” Tommy replied.

“Tomorrow’s Sunday Tommy.”

“Oh yeah!” he exclaimed excitedly. “We still have one more day before school!”

“Yes we do,” she laughed. “Bye.”

She leaned in to give him a hug before leaving, braving his strong stench of alcohol.

“Bye!” he shouted, wildly waving to her after they let go.

As Felicity walked away, she couldn’t help but think that she and Tommy were much more alike than she ever would have guessed. They were both hopelessly chasing people who didn’t want them.

Life was one big goddamn mess.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here's chapter three! Hope you guys like it and again thanks so much for the great response on this so far. Reading all your comments make my day.


	4. Everyone Has A Secret Crush

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity confronts Laurel about her secret make out session and realises that maybe Tommy isn't the only one with hidden feelings.

Both Laurel and Sara were much too drunk to drive so Felicity immediately grabbed the keys and took them to her place, knowing that they would all be in serious trouble if Captain Lance caught them sneaking back in way past their curfew with his daughters reeking of alcohol. But earthquakes, hurricanes and volcanoes wouldn’t be able to wake Donna once she’d passed out after work so she knew they’d be safe.

Felicity kept her mouth shut all through the journey back to her house.

She didn’t say a word while the two sisters struggled to make it up the stairs to get to her room.

And even when they had all stumbled into bed, the three of them squished together because no one wanted to sleep in the spare room due to the fact that they all thought it was haunted, Felicity remained silent.

Until finally, she broke.

“Laurel?” she asked tentatively, unsure if she was still awake.

“Yeah?” she replied groggily, her voice muffled with her head buried into her pillow.

“How come you never told us that you made out with Tommy Meryln?” Felicity asked as nonchalantly as she possibly could.

“WHAT?” Sara sat up instantly, her eyes landing on her sister who lay as still as a statue but they all knew that she didn’t miraculously fall asleep in two seconds.

Felicity had told herself that she would wait until morning to confront her. That she would give her time, let her sober up after a good night’s sleep.

But she really couldn’t help it. The weight of the secret was killing her. She had no idea how Laurel had managed to keep it from them without cracking.

“Laurel!” Sara yelled, shaking her and eliciting a groan from the brunette.

“I can’t believe he told you I am going to kill him!” Laurel exclaimed, still hiding in her pillow.

“It wasn’t his fault!” Felicity defended Tommy. “He was drunk and it slipped.”

Laurel finally raised her head to glare at her best friend.

“Wait, when did this happen?” Sara inquired. “How did it happen? Someone please explain.”

Both pair of eyes turned to Laurel and she sighed.

“It was at Max’s party-” she began.

“Wait that was like three months ago,” Sara interrupted. “You’ve been keeping this from us for three months!”

Laurel glared at Sara next before continuing her story.

“Anyway I had failed that English test and you guys know how messed up I was over that plus seeing Jason there with someone else really fucked me up and before you both jump in to tell me how much of an asshole he is I know that now but back then I was still pretty in love with him so yeah it was not a good time for me. So I got really drunk and before I knew it I was dancing with Tommy. Like, really dancing.  Rated R kind of dancing-”

“Okay we get it please continue,” Felicity cut her off this time because she really did not need that mental image.

“Please,” Sara added with a disgusted expression.

“Sorry,” Laurel apologised, her cheeks turning red. “So yeah we were dancing and then we ended up in one of the rooms and I don’t even know how it happened but one second we were just standing there and the next we were on the bed-”

“Okay you know what forget I asked I don’t want to be scarred for life goodnight,” Sara stated, dropping back down on the bed and pulling the covers over her head.

Felicity stayed quiet for a total of five seconds before she asked, “So making out was all you did on that bed right?”

“Yes Felicity oh my God!” Laurel replied, her cheeks turning redder.

“I had to ask!” she countered.

“Please go to sleep,” Sara moaned.

“So was he a good kisser?” Felicity inquired curiously, ignoring her groaning friend.

“Amazing,” Laurel sighed. “It was actually really fun. Making out with him. I don't know something about him- _it_ was really nice.”

“And yet you made him swear never to tell anyone and just pretended that it never happened,” Felicity said.

“Because it was fun for just one night. He’s not exactly boyfriend material and besides I’m sure he regretted it. Not telling anyone was best for both of us,” she responded and the tiniest hint of sadness in her tone that she was trying very hard to hide did not escape Felicity’s attention.

She had to bite her tongue to keep from spilling that he actually didn’t regret it and that he was secretly pining for her but that wasn’t her secret to tell. Whatever it was that was going on with Laurel and Tommy, Felicity needed to let them work it out on their own.

So after she felt that she had given her best friend enough shit for keeping such very important information from them, with the occasional jab from Sara who joined in from time to time, they all eventually fell asleep, with two out of the three girls dreaming about certain billionaires who went to their school.

Although one of them would never admit it.

 

Bright and early on Monday morning Felicity spotted Tommy at his locker.

“Hey,” she greeted, walking up to him.

“Hi,” he replied.

“Have you recovered from Saturday yet?” she asked.

“I’m still working on it,” he said, causing her to smile.

“So...how are you..with the whole Laurel thing?”

“I’m coping,” he answered. “What about you? With the Oliver thing?”

“I’m coping,” she responded.

“So um I sort of told Laurel that you told me that you guys made out,” Felicity blurted before she could chicken out. “I’m sorry.”

She had spent her whole Sunday feeling guilty about it so the least she could do was warn the guy.

“It’s okay,” he said and Felicity breathed a sigh of relief. “I sort of guessed that you would end up telling her.”

“I really couldn’t help it,” she groaned. “I suck at keeping secrets.”

“I know. You told Oliver you have him for Secret Santa remember?” he teased.

“Ugh shut up,” she glared at him.

“Anyway I should get to class,” Tommy declared, looking at his watch. “But could you do me a favour and try to keep it a secret that I like Laurel.”

“That is a very big important secret. I can keep those,” she reassured him, although a large part of her was aching to tell him that she suspected that maybe Laurel had some feelings for him as well.

“Thanks Smoak,” he said, flashing her a smile. “See you later. And good luck with your secret.”

“Thanks,” she sighed. “And same to you.”

Tommy gave her a little wave before heading down the hallway and Felicity began her walk to class too, thinking about how she needed all the luck she could get. After all, she _was_ a goddamn mess.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a mess tbh. Also I am aware that there has not been much Olicity interaction lately but the next chapter will certainly make up for that. Thanks for reading!


	5. Can't Get Over You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity goes to Oliver's place to work on an assignment and does not do a good job of getting over him.

Felicity stood outside Oliver’s door, hand poised and ready to knock when it flew open and she was met by the object of her affection himself.

She _was_ trying to deal with her feelings for him but that mainly included coming to terms with the fact that he would never like her the way she liked him without feeling too shitty about herself. But it wasn’t like she had any control over her emotions.

Felicity would get over him. Someday. It was just a slow and gradual process.

“I got your text,” he said, holding up his phone. “Come on in.”

Their beloved Chemistry professor had given everyone an assignment to do with their lab partners, based on the experiment they conducted in class. And the best part was that it was due the next day. Wonderful.

Felicity entered the mansion, trying to conceal her awe but failing miserably.

“Wow,” she said, looking around. “Your place is...huge.”

Her eyes widened as she took it all in. She knew Oliver was rich but holy shit this was like a palace.

“It’s like...a real mansion,” she uttered.

“As opposed to an imaginary mansion?” Oliver teased and Felicity snapped out of her stupor to send him a glare.

“I just put on Frozen for Thea so she should be good for a couple hours but I’m just gonna check on her one more time before we start,” Oliver said. “Make yourself at home.”

Felicity resisted the urge to snort because this was nothing like her home.

She made her way towards the table in the drawing room or dining room or parlour, she really had no idea what they called it to be honest, setting all her stuff down as she waited for Oliver to return.

Felicity was more than a little surprised when Oliver told her that he had to babysit his little sister this evening because his parents would be attending a gala. Apparently the woman who usually watched her was sick so Oliver stepped in. Felicity never pegged him as a babysitter but then again, Oliver Queen was full of surprises.

“Okay, let’s do this,” Oliver stated as he entered the room, taking the seat next to Felicity.

“I already wrote up everything in scrap before I came here,” she told him as she found the piece of paper. “I think there’s just one or two things that are a little off but we’ll fix it as we go along.”

“You are a lifesaver,” Oliver mumbled, haphazardly scanning through what she wrote.

“You know, you could have just sent me a picture of this and we could have worked through the phone,” Oliver  said.

“Like the last time we did that and you wrote the wrong thing and he deducted points from the both of us?” Felicity reminded him, causing his cheeks to turn slightly pink. “No I need to see what you’re doing to make sure you don’t screw up again.”

“Okay boss,” Oliver mumbled, earning another glare from the blonde.

They then began writing up their papers in silence, with the occasional question from Oliver. Everything was going smoothly and it looked like they would actually be finished pretty soon.

Until suddenly, their peace and quiet was broken by a loud crash.

In an instant, Oliver was out of his chair and heading towards the direction of the sound, with Felicity quickly on his heels.

And in the kitchen they found the source of the noise as they were met with the sight of Thea sprawled out on the floor with a tub of chocolate ice cream still slowly rolling away from her as well as a chair positioned directly under the freezer, to which the door was wide open.

Oliver rushed towards her, worry present in his eyes.

“Are you okay?” he asked concernedly, kneeling down to her level.

“I’m fine,” she said, her voice heavy with annoyance and pushing away his hands as he examined her to make sure that she really was okay and that nothing was broken.

Once he was certain that she was unhurt, he began the task of reprimanding her.

“What were you doing?” he demanded. “Are you crazy? You could have really gotten yourself injured.”

“But I didn’t,” she countered, folding her arms.

“That’s not the point,” he sighed. “And besides you’re not even allowed to have ice cream now it’s almost your bedtime.”

“Pretty please with a cherry on top,” the seven year old begged, sticking out her upper lip and pouting.

“No,” Oliver replied firmly and Felicity couldn’t help but admire his resolve.

If she had been looking at Felicity with that face, she would have probably given her anything she asked for.

“Please Ollie,” she pleaded, sniffling as her eyes began to water.

So she could cry on command as well. This kid was good.

“Are you really gonna let my friend see you cry?” Oliver asked, nodding his head in Felicity’s direction. “Won’t you feel ashamed that someone else is watching you behave like a baby?”

“I am not a baby!” Thea angrily exclaimed, sending Oliver a very scary death glare for a little child.

She then turned to look at Felicity, as if she was now noticing her for the first time.

Felicity flashed the girl a small smile and she received one in return.

“What’s her name?” Thea whispered to Oliver but she was so loud she heard it anyway.

Felicity guessed that Thea had no idea how on earth to be quiet.

“That’s Felicity,” Oliver loudly whispered back.

“She’s pretty,” his sister whispered once more, causing Felicity’s cheeks to immediately turn red.

“I know,” Oliver responded with a little smile and it was amazing how two little words could make her stomach do flip flops and get her heart racing at the same time.

Thea’s gaze moved from Felicity to the ice cream on the floor and all of a sudden she seemed to remember why she was there in the first place.

“Come on Ollie can I please just get a little bit? I need it!” she continued arguing.

Her eyes were still filled with tears and Felicity couldn’t help but feel sorry for the little brunette.

“Will one scoop of ice cream really hurt anyone?” Felicity asked tentatively, putting on her most innocent expression.

This time it was her who was on the receiving end of a glare as Oliver’s head swivelled in her direction.

“Yeah just one scoop!” Thea exclaimed excitedly, already aware that she would end up getting what she wanted.

Oliver looked at the both of them before he sighed, then got up to retrieve the pint and get a bowl and spoon.

“When mom kills me it’s your fault,” Oliver declared to the two girls.

“I won’t tell her I promise!” Thea said seriously.

“You mean the way you didn’t tell her last time?” Oliver asked with a raised eyebrow.

“That was an accident!” she defended herself. “I really mean it now.”

“Yeah Oliver we won’t tell,” Felicity joined in.

“You stop talking,” Oliver demanded as he pointed at her.

“Hey don’t talk to Felicity like that!” Thea yelled at him and Felicity didn’t even try to hide the smug smile that appeared on her features.

As Oliver finished scooping the ice cream, he mumbled about them sending him to his grave and Felicity rolled her eyes at him being so dramatic.

“Here you go,” Oliver said as he handed his sister her snack.

“Thanks Ollie!” she grinned sweetly, giving him a hug before grabbing the bowl and running off.

“Be careful!” Oliver called, shaking his head when she blatantly ignored him.

“Your sister’s cute,” Felicity remarked when she disappeared.

“She’s a pest,” Oliver said but couldn’t hide the affection in his voice as they both began heading back to finish their assignment.

“I bet your parents used to say that about you,” she retorted.

“They still say it,” he commented and Felicity’s laughter echoed off the walls.

It didn’t take long before they were done and Felicity and Oliver packed up their stuff before heading upstairs to check on Thea.

The seven year old lay sprawled out on the bed with her eyes glued to the television, completely engrossed in her movie.

“I love this part,” Felicity stated, watching as Anna unfroze on the screen.

“Me too!” Thea agreed. “What’s your absolute favourite part?”

“Hmm...I think when Elsa sings Let It Go,” Felicity replied. “What’s yours?”

“Mine is when Anna punches Hans in the face,” she said gleefully, causing the corners of her brother’s mouth to turn up.

“Oh yeah that is a great part,” Felicity stated with a smile of her own.

“Oh Ollie, carry that downstairs,” Thea ordered, lazily pointing towards the empty bowl on the floor. “Come and watch with me Felicity.”

Felicity happily joined her on the bed, laying down next to her while Oliver grumbled to himself as he picked up the bowl to put it in the sink.

Neither of them even noticed when he returned and stretched out on the other side of Thea, watching the ending with the girls.

“Let’s put on something else!” Thea declared as she sat up, only a second after the movie was finished.

“You have to sleep in less than an hour,” Oliver told her, looking at the time on his phone.

“Please!” she begged. “Felicity what’s your favourite Disney Princess movie?”

“Beauty and the Beast and Brave,” Felicity answered as Oliver sighed heavily, already knowing what was going to happen.

“I’ll put on Brave,” he mumbled, getting off the bed.

“No I want to see Beauty and the Beast,” Thea said, intent on being extra difficult.

“You only want to see Beauty and the Beast because you know I like Brave,” Oliver countered.

“You like Brave?” Felicity teased.

“Don’t you start,” Oliver said to her but she couldn’t stop herself from giggling just a little over the fact that Oliver enjoyed Disney Princess movies.

But Thea’s wish was his command so Oliver found the Beauty and the Beast dvd and they all sprawled out on the bed once more.

When this movie finished however, Oliver and Felicity were met with silence. Curiously, they both turned to look at Thea, only to find her sound asleep.

“Finally,” Oliver whispered, pulling the blanket over her and pressing a little kiss to her forehead.

Felicity’s heart damn near melted.

He then took off the tv before they made their way downstairs.

“My parents promised they’d be back before midnight to give you a ride back home,” Oliver reassured, catching her looking at the time.

“My mom’s probably already passed out anyway so don’t worry,” she said, earning one of those smiles she loved so much.

They proceeded to spent the next two hours alternating between the tv and YouTube, watching funny videos and occasionally talking shit about people they didn’t like from school, all while eating every snack that they could find in the fridge.

“Shit it’s already past midnight,” Oliver announced after glancing at his phone.

“I had no idea it was so late,” Felicity said, sitting up.

“Sometimes those galas end up running really late. My parents probably got stuck there. I’m sorry.”

“You don’t have to apologise this isn’t your fault,” Felicity stated, unable to keep from feeling awful as she took in his distressed expression.

“I’d call Tommy to drop you but his dad dragged him to the gala too as punishment,” Oliver told her.

“What did he do?” Felicity couldn’t help but ask.

“He failed his last Math test. That was the fifth in a row,” he explained.

“Holy shit Tommy,” Felicity mumbled.

“Listen, do you just want to spend the night here? I don’t know what time they’ll get home and we have school tomorrow so you need to sleep. We can just get up extra early in the morning and I’ll drive you back to your place so you can change and get your other books and stuff,” Oliver suggested.

“Thanks I think that would be the best thing. I’ll text my mom so she won’t panic when she wakes up and I’m not home,” Felicity said, already pulling out her phone.

She then followed Oliver to the spare room that she would be staying in for the night. Felicity tried to ignore the fact that out of the many extra bedrooms, he gave her the one closest to where he slept.

The minute Oliver opened the door Felicity rushed towards the bed, jumping in immediately as she yawned.

“Oh wow this is comfortable,” she said, her voice muffled as she buried her head in one of the pillows.

“Hold on I’ll be right back,” Oliver told her and Felicity muttered some sort of halfway response as she began wrapping herself in the blankets.

She was so focused on how soft everything was that she didn’t even notice when Oliver returned.

“Here,” he said, holding out a huge t-shirt.

“What?” Felicity questioned confused.

“For you to sleep in,” he laughed. “I don’t think jeans would be very comfortable to wear to bed.”

“Oh,” Felicity said, sitting up as she grabbed the piece of cloth from his hand. “Thanks.”

Oliver just lent her his clothes to sleep in. This was fine. This was totally cool. This didn’t fuck her up at all.

“Goodnight Felicity,” he smiled and Felicity never loved her name as much as when he said it.

This time was no exception.

“Goodnight Oliver,” she said with a smile of her own.

As soon as he closed the door, Felicity stripped and put on his shirt. She laughed softly to herself as she stood up and walked around a bit. It was huge. She was swimming in it. But it was the most comfortable thing she’d ever worn. She loved it.

She yawned again, and taking that as her cue to go to sleep, she crawled into bed, curling up between the sheets.

It was only as she was beginning to drift off, did she realise that Oliver’s shirt smelled just like him.

She groaned because he really wasn’t making this any easier on her.

How the hell was she supposed to get over him when he was kissing his sister on her forehead and making Felicity’s heart melt and giving her his shirt that smelled like him because he was concerned that she would be uncomfortable in her jeans?

Felicity was pretty sure that she ended up liking him even more.

She was so fucked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think this is the longest chapter so far so I hope everyone enjoyed it. Again thanks for reading and I really appreciate all the feedback I've been getting so far.


	6. What A Morning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity meets Oliver's parents and he meets her mother all before school even starts.

“Felicity.”

Felicity groaned in response to the voice inside her head that sounded suspiciously like Oliver’s, burying her face into her pillow to continue whatever dream she was having that included him.

“Felicity wake up,” the voice repeated louder and wait this wasn’t a dream.

Felicity sat up, confused as she realised she was not in her room and ready to panic when her eyes fell on Oliver standing beside the bed.

“Come on I have to drop you home before it gets too late,” Oliver said and suddenly everything came rushing back.

His parents didn’t make it home in time and she spent the night.

_She was also wearing his fucking t-shirt._

All of a sudden it hit her that she had just woken up and her hair was sticking out in every direction and there was probably drool on her face and Oliver was right here looking at her and oh god she was going to die.

“Right. Okay. Um give me a second to get dressed and I’ll be right down,” she said quickly, wrapping the blanket tighter around her to hide the fact that she wasn’t wearing a bra, another piece of information she only just remembered.

“Sure. Meet me in the dining room,” he replied before leaving and Felicity had never been so happy for Oliver to be gone.

Hurriedly, she threw on her clothes from the day before then washed her face and ran her fingers through her hair in order to appear at least halfway decent.

When she was finished with everything, she stepped outside, prepared to grab Oliver and go. However, she was met with the scent of something that made her mouth water and her stomach grumble. She ended up following the smell all the way to the dining room where her eyes fell on a huge breakfast laid out on the table.

And sitting behind it was Oliver. With his parents.

Suddenly Felicity wasn’t so hungry anymore because she felt like throwing up instead. What on earth was the proper protocol when meeting Starling City royalty?

“Felicity,” his mother greeted. “Please, join us.”

So Felicity took a seat because there was no way in hell she was telling Moira Queen _no_.

“Help yourself,” Robert said, pushing a few plates in Felicity’s direction.

Politely, she placed some toast and fruit on her own plate. Of course they would have fresh fruit. This was like a damn restaurant.

“Do you want some bacon?” he asked, already reaching out to fill her plate even more. “It’s great.”

“She’s Jewish Robert. Remember?” Moira reminded him and Felicity immediately wondered how she knew that.

Oliver must have told her but when? Did he talk about her? To his mother? What else did his parents know about Felicity? She didn’t realise that he even remembered she was Jewish. What else did he know about her?

“Oh I’m sorry I forgot,” Robert immediately apologised, looking a bit ashamed.

“It’s alright,” Felicity reassured as she couldn’t help but feel bad for him a little.

“We’re sorry we couldn’t get home in time to take you back to your place,” Moira was the one apologising this time. “The gala ended up running quite late and it wouldn’t have looked good for us to leave.”

“It’s okay. Really,” Felicity told them. “Besides the spare bedroom I stayed in was very comfortable.”

“I gave her the best,” Oliver chimed in, his mouth full of food.

“Don’t talk with your mouth full dear,” Moira reprimanded and Oliver rolled his eyes while Felicity quietly snickered.

“What time did your sister go to bed?” Moira asked out of the blue and all of a sudden Oliver wasn’t rolling his eyes anymore.

“Oh around nine,” Oliver replied nonchalantly.

“Really?” Moira questioned, staring at her son and it was evident that she didn’t believe a word he just said.

“Yes I swear! She went to bed on time,” Oliver insisted.

“Is that why she can’t wake up right now?” Robert inquired.

“She’s a growing child she needs her sleep,” Oliver retorted, and Felicity couldn’t help but snort.

“Felicity darling,” Moira suddenly turned to her. “What time did my daughter go to sleep?”

“Look at the time!” Oliver exclaimed as he got up, before Felicity could open her mouth. “It’s getting late and I really need to get Felicity home so she can change and get her stuff for school.”

“You gave her ice cream again didn’t you?” Robert raised his eyebrows but couldn’t conceal his smile.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Oliver said, avoiding his father’s eyes but a grin of his own was threatening to break through.

“You never learn do you?” Moira sighed. “Oh and Felicity you’ve barely touched your food you can take it in the car with you. Breakfast _is_ the most important meal of the day.”

“Well in that case...” Oliver mumbled, grabbing his own plate which he quickly refilled but Moira wasted no time in slapping his hand and demanding that he put it down.

“You’re driving,” she said sharply.

“I can eat and drive,” Oliver proclaimed but his mother only raised an eyebrow.

“How do you know that? Have you done it before?” Moira folded her arms.

“No,” Oliver looked everywhere but at his mother as he gently rested his plate back down on the table.

“Smart answer,” Robert mumbled but not softly enough as both his wife and son shot glares in his direction.

“Thanks for the breakfast. And letting me stay over,” Felicity declared because it _was_ getting late.

“It was no problem,” Moira responded.

“You’re welcome here anytime,” Robert added.

“Bye mom. Bye dad,” Oliver said as he waved at them.

“Love you!” Moira called as they began walking away.

“Love you too!” he replied and Felicity smiled softly to herself.

She couldn’t believe that she just met Oliver’s parents. She couldn’t believe that they were so nice.

“They like you,” Oliver said as they settled into his car. “They think you’re a good influence.”

“Well they’re right,” Felicity retorted with a smirk before biting in to her toast.

“Not very modest though,” he mumbled and Felicity slapped him on his arm, causing him to laugh.

And right there, sitting in the front seat of Oliver’s car as she bantered with him, Felicity realised that there was nothing more that she wanted than to live in this moment forever. With the windows down and the breeze blowing through her hair as she turned the music up, her and Oliver’s laughter filling the space as they joked around with each other, everything was absolutely perfect.

 

It wasn’t long before Oliver pulled up at her house.

“Thanks so much,” Felicity said, getting out of the car.

“It’s no problem,” he replied. “I’ll wait here for you.”

“What?” she blinked.

“I’ll drive you to school,” he explained, laughing at her confused expression.

“Oh that’s okay you don’t have to do that,” Felicity said quickly. “I’ll get my usual ride with Laurel.”

“You can tell her not to bother. I’m already here it won’t hurt if I wait a few extra minutes.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes! Now go get your stuff,” he told her.

On that note Felicity rushed off, hurriedly sending a text to Laurel telling her that she was getting a ride with Oliver this morning, to which she replied with a series of question marks.

Felicity would have to explain later.

She showered in less than ten minutes, something that had never been done before, and got ready in five, before grabbing her books and dashing out of her room.

However, on her way out of the house she was met with the sight of Oliver and her mother having coffee together in the kitchen.

_Oliver was with her mother._

Oh dear God.

“Mom!” Felicity exclaimed as she joined them. “I didn’t see you when I got in I thought you left for work already.”

“You were too busy rushing about like a whirlwind to notice anybody. Honey you need to breathe! And I can’t believe you had poor Oliver waiting alone in the car instead of inviting him in,” Donna said and this time it was Felicity who was getting reprimanded.

“Yeah well I didn’t plan on taking long. And I’m already done so we should get going right Oliver?” Felicity turned towards him, pleading with her eyes to support her on this.

“We still have some time,” Oliver replied with a little smile that said he understood what she was trying to communicate but he loved torturing her. “Besides I like talking to your mom. She was actually in the middle of telling me about the time your pet fish died.”

That little shit.

“Oh yes!” Donna suddenly blurted as she remembered what she had been doing before her daughter interrupted. “She was so devastated. I never saw a child cry so much.”

“Over a fish?” Oliver inquired with a little laugh and Felicity swore that she was going to murder him.

“It’s getting late and we really need to go,” Felicity announced, grabbing Oliver by the arm and pulling him away from her mother. “Bye mom!”

“Bye sweetheart!” Donna called. “Bye Oliver! Feel free to stop by anytime you like.”

“I think I’ll take you up on that offer,” Oliver said, just before Felicity shut the door, after pretty much dragging him out of the house.

“No, you will not be taking her up on that offer,” Felicity huffed.

“Why?” Oliver asked.

“Because my mother has a PhD in Embarrassing Daughters,” Felicity sighed.

“It’s not her fault that you named your pet fish Mr. Wiggles,” Oliver teased and Felicity glared at him before getting into the car, making sure to slam the door extra hard.

“Next time I come to your house I’ll get your mom to bring out the baby pictures,” Felicity threatened.

“Go ahead,” Oliver shrugged. “I was a very cute baby.”

“What on earth happened?”

“I got hot,” he winked and Felicity’s grumpy demeanour fell away as she her laughter echoed throughout the car.

“What? I am hot!” Oliver insisted. “Aren’t I?”

“Sure you are Oliver,” Felicity replied sarcastically and this time it was Oliver who glared at her.

He _was_ hot though. She would never admit it out loud to him but unfortunately, in addition to being rich, charming and nice, he was damn attractive too.

The universe just wasn’t fair.

 

In a matter of minutes they arrived at the school and Felicity was thanking Oliver once more, to which he told her not to worry about it for the millionth time.

“You!” Felicity turned around at the voice shouting in her direction after stepping out of the car to find Tommy pointing at her as he made his way towards them.

“You’re the reason I had to drive myself to school this morning,” he said.

Felicity looked at Oliver because she had no idea what he was talking about.

“I usually give Tommy a ride on mornings but couldn’t because I had to drive you home and then I gave you a ride here too,” Oliver explained as they began heading towards the building.

“Oh. Sorry,” she said to Tommy.

“Don’t apologise. I’m tired of him sponging off me especially when he has a car of his own,” Oliver mock complained.

“But I like having you as my personal chauffer,” Tommy said to his best friend.

“How about you give your car to a tiny blonde less fortunate person who is in dire need of a vehicle?” Felicity suggested. “That way he’ll be forced to carry you around everywhere.”

Tommy laughed as he threw an arm around her shoulder.

“I love you Smoak but not that much,” he said.

“Get your filthy hand off my girl,” Sara ordered as she and Laurel appeared in front of them.

“I wasn’t aware that you owned her,” Tommy shot back.

“I do. ‘Property of Sara Lance’ is tattooed on her ass actually,” Sara retorted and Felicity’s face instantly reddened.

“Sara!” she exclaimed, shooting a very scary look at her friend while Oliver and Tommy struggled not to laugh.

“Well I am very sorry,” Tommy apologised, removing his hand and taking a step away from Felicity.

During their little exchange however, Felicity didn’t miss the way that Tommy kept looking at Laurel. She was surprised that Oliver hadn’t figured out he and his best friend liked the same girl when he basically stared at her like a lovesick puppy.

She also didn’t miss the way that Laurel was looking everywhere but at Tommy. Felicity couldn’t help but wonder when her best friend would finally admit to herself that she had feelings for him.

“Bye boys,” Sara said to them as they began walking away.

“See you in Homeroom,” Felicity added as Laurel sent a wave in their direction.

“Is there a particular reason you can’t look Tommy Merlyn in the eye?” Sara asked as soon as they were out of earshot, even though she damn well knew the answer.

“So Felicity how come Oliver drove you to school?” Laurel inquired, completely ignoring her sister.

“Well I ended up spending the night at his place-” she began but the sisters immediately cut her off.

“Wait what!”

“You spent the night!”

“Oh my God will you two shut up?” Felicity scolded.

“Sorry,” they both mumbled sheepishly.

And so, Felicity continued her story, with the occasional interruption and for the rest of the day she was teased endlessly about wearing Oliver’s t-shirt and naming her pet fish Mr. Wiggles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those of you who celebrate Christmas, Happy Christmas Eve Eve! For those who don't Happy Wednesday! Hope everyone likes this one as much as the last. Thanks for reading.


	7. Let's Go Christmas Shopping

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver invites Felicity to go Christmas shopping with him.

Felicity sat at her desk doing homework, the way she usually spent her Saturdays, when her phone rang and interrupted her thought process.

“Hello,” she answered, only half paying attention as she tried to finish the sentence she was writing.

“Felicity, hey,” a  _very_  familiar voice replied.

“Oliver?” Felicity responded, her pen instantly falling on her lap and she really needed to start looking at her screen to see who the hell was calling before she actually answered so she would be more prepared.

“Yeah. I was wondering if you wanted to come Christmas shopping with me,” he said.

“Now?” Felicity asked because she was in the middle of homework and oh screw homework Oliver wanted her to go Christmas shopping with him for God’s sakes.

“Yep. I don’t want to go alone and Tommy’s still massively hung over from a party last night,” he explained.

“Oh so I’m your second choice?” Felicity asked in a wounded tone because giving Oliver shit was something she quite enjoyed.

“No you’re my first really. I only called Tommy before you so he wouldn’t feel bad when he finds out that I took you with me.”

“So you just assumed that I would say yes? That I have nothing better to do with my Saturday than go shopping with you?” she continued to tease him, leaning back in her chair.

“Do you?” he inquired curiously.

“No,” she sighed. “I’m currently in the middle of tackling that essay we have to do for English.”

“I don’t even want to think about that yet don’t speak of it,” Oliver demanded and Felicity couldn’t help it when the corners of her mouth curled up.

Oliver would never stop being the biggest procrastinator on the planet.

“Hey how come  _you’re_  not massively hung over right now?” Felicity asked. “Usually you’re not up before noon.”

“I didn’t go out last night,” he answered.

Felicity gasped and she could practically see Oliver rolling his eyes on the other end.

“Oliver Queen staying at home on a Friday night? That’s unheard of.”

“I had to watch Thea again. Anyway are you coming with me or not?”

“Yeah yeah I’m coming,” she told him, already getting up because she was still in her pyjamas and she needed to get ready fast.

“Okay. I’ll be there in ten. See you in a few,” he said.

_Ten? Make that fifteen please._

“Yeah bye,” she replied before hanging up.

 _Fuck_  was the only word repeating in Felicity’s brain as she rushed to her room to shower and change as quickly as possible. She silently cursed Oliver for being so last minute. His ass would wait if he got there and she wasn’t ready yet. After all, it would be his own damn fault.

Fortunately, Felicity finished as soon as Oliver pulled up in front of her house.

It didn’t take long before they reached the mall and now they were walking through the toy store as Oliver searched for a present for his sister.

“So every year Thea deems one of her gifts as the Worst Gift Ever,” Oliver was explaining why everyone took gift giving to the youngest Queen so seriously.  

“And whoever that person is becomes subjected to verbal torture from the rest of the family for the next year until Christmas rolls around again.”

“Wow,” Felicity commented. “So who gave the Worst Gift Ever last year?”

“Me,” Oliver mumbled and Felicity cackled, receiving a little gift of her own in the form of a glare from Oliver.

“What did you get her?” Felicity questioned.

“Okay so she specifically told me that she wanted a princess dress,” Oliver began as if he ranted about this a thousand times already. “So I went and I got her the poofiest pinkest most princessy dress you could imagine. With glitter and sparkles and everything. So I’m really excited to give this to her because I’m thinking that she’s gonna love it.”

“But she didn’t love it,” Felicity stated the obvious.

“She didn’t love it!” Oliver exclaimed. “She didn’t even like it. She told me that clothes are the worst present that you could get for Christmas and then declared it the Worst Gift Ever.”

“I’m so sorry,” Felicity said, as sorrowful as she could while keeping a straight face.

“Hey leave me alone,” Oliver said, pointing at her. “Up until yesterday my dad was laughing at me about it. But this year I am going to redeem myself. And it’s going to feel great to be on the other side and poke fun of whoever it is that gets her the worst gift this time.”

“So do you have any idea what you’re going to buy?” she asked.

“She wrote in her letter to Santa that she wants some huge Barbie dollhouse thing,” Oliver said as he looked around at all the toys. “If only I could find where they kept the dollhouses. Was this store always so huge?”

Felicity snorted as she slowly made her way through the aisles with him, looking around to see if she spotted any dollhouses herself.

“What else does she want?” Felicity asked.

“A new iPad. I would have loved to get her that but dad beat me to it. He also threatened to cut me off if I rushed and bought it so yeah there’s also that,” he replied.

Felicity laughed because she had no idea that little Thea Queen held so much power over her family or that the most influential people in the city would take something so trivial so seriously.

“So what’s your mom gonna get her?” she inquired.

“I have no idea. My guess is that she’ll have the Worst Gift Ever this year.”

“Or maybe she’ll surprise you and give her something really great and you’ll have the worst gift again.”

“That is not going to happen I refuse to be the Worst Gift Person two years in a row,” Oliver stated defiantly just as they found themselves standing in front of a bunch of dollhouses.

“Jackpot!” Felicity exclaimed and Oliver didn’t bother to hide his smile at her outburst.

Carefully, he examined all of the toys before him, trying to decide which was the best. Eventually, he settled on the biggest because really, you couldn’t go wrong with a gigantic dollhouse.

So Oliver and Felicity walked out of the store with Oliver struggling to hold an enormous box, although he would never admit it.

“Oh I have to get one more gift for my mom for Hanukkah so I was wondering if we could stop in one of the clothes stores,” Felicity said.

“Sure,” Oliver replied, trying to appear as nonchalant as possible even though his face was turning redder by the second.

“Do you want me to help you put that in the car first?” Felicity asked in a tone that really meant  _I am going to help you put that in the car don’t fight me on it_ and left no room for arguments.

“Okay yeah that would be nice,” Oliver responded, a bit breathlessly.

That was how both Oliver and Felicity ended up struggling all the way out of the mall and to the car, each of them almost falling several times and constantly snapping at the other along the way until  _finally_ , they made it.

Now, they were in one of Donna’s favourite boutiques as Felicity tried to hide the fact that she wasn’t breathing properly yet as she looked through a bunch of tops. She silently cursed herself for being so unfit and made a pact right there that she would start working out from tomorrow. Or next week. Some day soon.

“So do you have any idea what Laurel wants for Christmas?” Oliver asked nonchalantly and Felicity pretended to be very interested a black dress that was actually one of the worst items of clothing she had ever seen, so she wouldn't have to look at him.

“Oh you know, usual girl stuff,” Felicity answered, trying to keep her voice light because she wasn't bothered by this question at all, nope she was completely fine. “Makeup, clothes, accessories, that kind of thing.”

Suddenly, a dark red top with long sleeves and a criss crossed back caught Felicity’s attention and she took it off the rack, holding it against herself and oh this would fit perfectly she was already imagining the shoes she would wear it with.

“Your mom would like that?” Oliver asked, a teasing lilt to his voice.

“Right. My mom. That’s who I’m shopping for,” Felicity mumbled to herself as she slowly put it back.

“You can treat yourself to a little something and still get a present for your mom you know.”

“No Oliver actually I cannot because not all of us are billionaires and I don’t have enough for more than one piece of clothing from this store,” Felicity told him, instantly feeling bad at the bitterness in her words.

“I’m sorry I-” she began but Oliver cut her off.

“It’s okay. Now come on, what would Donna Smoak wear?” he asked, quickly changing the subject as he began sorting through clothes with her.

In the end Felicity picked a cute light blue blouse that she deemed decent because she refused to encourage Donna’s obsession with very plunging necklines. And after what felt like forever, they were finally free to go back home.

“Thanks for keeping me company today,” Oliver said as they were driving back to her place.

“No problem. It was actually pretty fun,” she replied with a little smile.

“Lugging around the heaviest box in the world was fun for you?” Oliver asked incredulously.

“Okay well not that part,” she laughed. “That was awful. I think I sprained something actually.”

“You and me both,” he snorted.

All too soon, he pulled up in front of her house and Felicity was forced to bid him farewell.

“Bye Queen. See you Monday,” she said, getting out of the car and shutting the door.

“Bye. Hope your mom likes the gift,” he responded.

“Hope your sister doesn’t hate hers.”

“God so do I,” Oliver muttered, sending her one final wave before he drove off.

Felicity headed inside, a warm feeling running through her veins from spending the day with Oliver, although she couldn't stop herself from wondering if he would get a gift for Laurel and what he would buy and suddenly the warmth in her stomach was replaced by an awful sensation that made her nauseous. She sighed as she entered her room and collapsed on her bed, hating Oliver for making her feel like this and hating herself even more for having these feelings.

Getting over Oliver Queen was a lot harder than she had originally imagined.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope everyone had a great holiday yesterday! Christmas may be over but this story isn't. Which is due to poor planning more than anything else. But anyway as usual, thanks for reading! Love y'all.


	8. Presents And Something More

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver buys Felicity presents for Hanukkah and very quietly, something shifts between them.

Monday mornings were filled with sleepy eyed students who’d barely brushed their hair or finished their homework and the sound of groans echoing off the hallways.

Felicity yawned as she walked in class, wishing with all her heart that she was still in bed while Laurel mumbled that they needed one more day in the weekend. She wholeheartedly supported her best friend on that. They should start a petition or something.

As Felicity made her way to her seat, she caught sight of a little gift bag sitting on her desk.

“What’s that?” Laurel asked curiously.

“I have no idea,” Felicity muttered.

Suspiciously, she regarded the tag attached to the bag, only to find that it was from none other than Oliver.

“To Felicity. Happy Hanukkah. From Oliver,” she read aloud for Laurel, unable to hide the little smile that appeared on her features.

Turning around, she found Oliver sitting at his desk at the back of the room, his eyes on her and wearing a smile of his own.

 _Open it_ , he mouthed at her and she obliged, her heart pounding in her chest.

What the hell could this be?

Felicity couldn’t help but gasp as she pulled out a top from the bag. A dark red top with long sleeves and a crisscrossed back. The exact one she had been drooling over when she was shopping for her mom.

With her mouth hanging open, she swivelled around to look at Oliver who was leaning back in his chair and grinning like an idiot.

She couldn’t believe this.

It was in her size and everything.

It was absolutely perfect.  _He_  was absolutely perfect.

“Wow,” Laurel said with a smirk.

“I know,” was all Felicity could say.

For the first time in her life, she was rendered speechless.

At that moment, Mrs. Clarke walked in class and everyone, including Felicity, hurried to take their seats. Homeroom that day was one big blur as Felicity was too busy thinking about Oliver to pay much attention to anything else.

  
  


Felicity practically bombarded Oliver second period when she saw him in Chemistry.

“I can’t believe you got me the top!” Felicity yelled, rushing towards him.

“Surprise,” he told her, still wearing that smile that made his eyes sparkle.

“Thank you so much oh my God!” she exclaimed, throwing her arms around him.

Oliver laughed as he wrapped his arms around her and Felicity never wanted to let go.

Oliver Queen gave the best hugs.

All too soon, they pulled away and Felicity tried to ignore the warm fuzzy feeling that was running through her veins because she was trying to get over him damn it and here he was buying her gifts. He was not making this easy on her.

“I was actually supposed to give you that yesterday for the first day of Hanukkah but me and Tommy stayed out pretty late on Saturday so we were messed up for basically the whole of yesterday. So now you’re just gonna get two presents on the last day,” Oliver said.

Felicity blinked at him for a second as she tried to process what he just said.

“Oliver please do not tell me that you bought me eight presents for each night of Hanukkah,” Felicity pretty much begged.

Oliver only grinned in response.

“Why?” she asked because she honestly could not understand.

The only person who ever bought her all eight presents was her mother when she had enough money and her father when he still lived with them. Laurel and Sara would give her gifts on the last night but that was it. She couldn’t fathom why Oliver would do all of this.

“Because I wanted to,” he answered as if buying eight presents for someone who wasn’t even family was the most natural thing in the world.

Before Felicity could tell him that he was crazy, Professor Stein walked in and class commenced. Felicity couldn’t afford to not pay attention in Chemistry so she pushed Oliver out of all her thoughts and listened attentively to whatever their teacher was saying.

But the warm fuzzy feeling stayed with her for the rest of the day. And that was completely fine with her.

 

For the next few days, Felicity received a pair of earrings and an extra for her third piercing, a necklace, lipstick, nail polish, a laptop bag, a tiny stuffed panda and a bracelet. She couldn’t believe that Oliver remembered when she defensively told him she loved pandas after he teased her about wearing her panda flats to school or that he noticed her favourite shade of lipstick was bright pink. Every little gift was more than perfect and while they all made Felicity extremely happy, she couldn’t help but be just the tiniest bit annoyed. Here he was buying her several presents and she still couldn’t figure out  _one_ damn gift for him for Secret Santa. It was infuriating.

On the last night of Hanukkah, Felicity and her mother sat in the kitchen which looked as if a whirlwind passed through, devouring all the food they struggled to make.

“I’ll get it,” Felicity mumbled with her mouth full as she got up.

“Hey,” Oliver said as soon as Felicity swung open the door.

“Hi!” she greeted, her hand instantly flying up to her face to hide the fact that she was in the middle of stuffing herself and there was actually food still in her mouth and of all the times Oliver Queen could walk through her door it just had to be now.

“Oliver?” Donna called out as she spotted him from the kitchen.

“Hi Ms. Smoak,” Oliver replied and earned himself a glare from the older blonde before he swiftly realised his mistake.

“I mean, hi Donna,” he corrected and Donna quickly nodded her head in satisfaction.

In a few seconds, Oliver was seated at the table and joining them in eating to their heart’s content.

“These are great,” he said, nodding towards the Latkes, his own mouth full.

“I certainly hope so. It took us hours to get everything right,” Donna said.

“This is the only time of the year that you’ll find us in the kitchen,” Felicity commented.

“Every year we use the same recipes and something always burns,” Donna sighed.

“Us Smoak women just aren’t good cooks,” Felicity said, shaking her head.

“I never would have been able to tell,” Oliver responded with a reassuring smile but something about it was off.

Something about  _him_  was off. Felicity had noticed that Oliver was quieter than usual but she thought that maybe he was just tired. After all, Monday was the shittiest day of the week. But now that she paid closer attention, she couldn’t help but think that it was something more.

“Well I’m gonna get cleaned up and then I have some stuff to do before I go to bed,” Donna announced, obviously lying but sensing that they needed to talk. “Goodnight kids.”

Felicity watched her mother leave the room and the moment she was gone, she pounced on Oliver.

“Okay what’s wrong?” she asked.

“What?” Oliver responded.

“Oh come on Oliver don’t play this game with me. Now, tell me what’s wrong,” Felicity demanded.

“It’s nothing,” Oliver sighed. “It’s just…my parents are fighting tonight again and..I don’t know.”

“Oh. I’m sorry,” Felicity replied softly.

“It’s no big deal they fight a lot. But they didn’t really argue in a while and things were really good and I guess I just forgot how awful everything can be when they get bad again.”

They lapsed into silence for a few moments and Felicity reached out, placing her hand over his which was resting on the table, letting him know that she was there for him.

“My dad left one day when I was little,” Felicity began, staring at her and Oliver's hands so she could avoid his eyes. “Just like that. One day he was here and the next he wasn’t. And things were really bad for a really long time. But then, slowly, without me even realising actually, they weren’t so bad anymore. I mean, my life isn’t perfect. Sometimes things can get really hard for me and my mom. But we make it work. And I don’t even know what my point is anymore but I guess what I’m trying to say is that things won’t always be bad. And no matter what happens…whatever happens with your parents..it’ll be okay. You’ll be okay. So just, you know hang in there. And if you ever need anyone, well I’m always here for you.”

Oliver didn’t say anything for a while but then he turned over his hand so that he could interlock his fingers with hers, giving a gentle squeeze and somehow that expressed a lot more than words ever could.

“You’re dad’s an asshole,” was how Oliver eventually broke the quiet and Felicity couldn’t help her laughter as she finally looked up at him.

“I know,” she replied, hating the way that her eyes were filled with tears anyway and that her voice shook when she spoke.

“It’s getting pretty late do you want to crash here?” she asked, clearing her throat and quickly changing the subject as she pulled her hand away because this was all too much she couldn’t do it.

She couldn’t sit here and bare her soul to Oliver, comforting him while he poured his heart out to her, all while knowing he was practically in love with her best friend. Oliver was her friend too but the line between friendship and her feelings were so blurred and she couldn’t figure anything out but all she knew was that with her and Oliver’s fingers intertwined she was falling head over heels for him. Oliver held her hand and her skin was on fire, every one of her nerve endings burning and she was the only one who could smell the smoke as he basically destroyed her without even knowing. This was more than just some stupid high school crush.

“This isn’t a mansion but we do have one spare room although we kinda believe that it’s haunted,” Felicity continued to babble.

“Why do you think it’s haunted?” Oliver asked curiously, and it was impossible for Felicity to miss how Oliver let his hand fall into his lap, casually flexing his fingers as he made his inquiry.

But there was no way he could have felt the same way as she.

“Okay so a few years ago when we repainted my room I had to sleep in the guest bedroom,” Felicity began her story, pushing aside all thoughts of Oliver that were more than friendly. “And everything was completely normal. Until the second night when I was falling asleep and out of nowhere, my book fell off the table. There was absolutely nothing that could have pushed that book off the table. So I’m already pretty scared, shutting my eyes even tighter and not moving an inch because I’m freaking terrified when I swear that I heard a sound that very closely resembled whispers. Well I flew off the bed in less than a second and ran straight to my mom’s room and to this day, I will not, under any circumstances, sleep in the spare room.”

“Oh but you’ll invite me to sleep there!” Oliver exclaimed. “Let’s give the poor unsuspecting innocent boy the  _haunted_  guest room.”

“Hey I literally just warned you!” Felicity defended herself.

“Okay fine. But I will not be staying there thank you for the offer. I don’t really feel like going back home either though so I think I’ll crash at Tommy’s.”

“Yeah that’s a good choice,” Felicity responded. “And Tommy doesn’t have ghosts. Does he?”

“No he doesn’t,” Oliver laughed, before getting up and announcing that he should get going.

“See you tomorrow,” Felicity said as she stood up too.

“Thank you Felicity,” Oliver said all of a sudden, every syllable of her name coated in tenderness and just like that her stomach was doing flip flops.

“For what?” she asked softly.

“For being you,” Oliver replied with a little smile, a smile that Felicity suddenly discovered he reserved just for her. “You always make me feel better.”

“Really?” she couldn’t help but inquire because she had no idea that she did.

“Yeah. You don’t even know it but I don’t know just being around you makes my day better. So thanks.”

“Being around you makes my day better too,” Felicity confessed quietly with her heart pounding in her chest.

Felicity always knew that Oliver meant a lot to her. But she never realised just how much she meant to him.

Before she knew it he was wrapping his arms around her and she was holding on to him like she never wanted to let go because God, she never wanted this moment to end. She wanted to stay in his arms forever. She wanted to crawl inside his chest and build a home in his heart and live there for the rest of her days.

Felicity lost herself in Oliver and briefly, all the stars were aligned just right as everything was completely perfect.

It felt like eternity before they pulled away but it was still too soon for Felicity and every cell in her body seemed to protest as she took a step back from him.

Oliver had the strangest look on his face, as if he was just waking up from a dream but Felicity’s whole world was blurry too. Except for him of course. He was the only thing in focus.

“Goodnight,” he said softly, his bright blue eyes locked on hers.

“Goodnight,” she replied, her voice barely above a whisper as she stared right back.

Oliver turned around and began walking away and just like that the spell was broken and Felicity was left wondering what the hell had just happened.

As soon as she heard the door shut, she collapsed into her chair, letting out a breath she wasn’t even aware she was holding.

She couldn’t shake the feeling that something had changed.

It was on that night, that very quietly, something shifted between Oliver and Felicity.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I tried not to write too much about Hanukkah because I don't have a lot of knowledge on this particular holiday and I didn't want to get anything wrong. If I did get something wrong in the little bit of stuff that I wrote, I sincerely apologise and I'll try to fix it if you bring it to my attention. Also, I saw that a few of you guessed in the comments last chapter that Oliver was going to get Felicity the top WELL CONGRATULATIONS YOU WERE RIGHT. I was very impressed tbh y'all are good. Hope everyone enjoyed this chapter and thanks for reading!


	9. A Little Too Much

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things escalate a bit when Felicity drinks too much at a party.

As the next few days passed, Oliver and Felicity never really talked about their conversation at her house but there were little smiles meant to be comforting and squeezes on the shoulder meant to show support and general touches passing briefly between the two, seemingly innocent but actually so much more.

Oliver and Felicity didn't need words.

Soon, Oliver was spending as much time at Felicity's as his own home, rivaling the amount of time he spent at Tommy's place. And Felicity was calling him for no reason at all but to hear his voice. Oliver started dropping her home after school instead of Laurel and Felicity began finding him between classes just so they could have a few extra minutes to talk about everything and nothing.

Felicity told herself that their friendship was just growing, because as far as she knew he still had feelings for Laurel although that was something she often found herself forgetting.

But she ignored the little voice that whispered maybe something _had_ shifted between them after all that night because she wasn't going to get her hopes up again just for them to be dashed.

So Oliver and Felicity continued on with their little dance for as long as the universe would allow.

 

Felicity woke up on a particular Saturday with a heavy feeling settled around her heart and a block of ice in her stomach and it was the day she dreaded every year and no matter how many times she told herself she was done caring, one single stupid day always managed to fuck her up.

_Her father's birthday._

Felicity didn't remember the exact day her father walked away. She wasn't prepared for it. She didn't pay any attention to it. It was just another regular day. Until it wasn't. All she knew is that one moment he was here and the next he was gone.

But one date that Felicity had memorised ever since she was a little girl was his goddamn birthday.

And even when he left, it wasn't like she could just unknow it.

It was on this day that she and her mother would spend ages baking a cake for him and the kitchen would look like a tornado had hit and it would end up tasting terrible but he would lie and tell them that it was the best thing he had ever eaten just because his two favourite girls made it and God how Felicity had believed him.

It was on this day she would make him a card and he would take her into his arms after reading it and spin her around until she squealed and her mother would yell at him to be careful but she would laugh as she scolded and he would tell her that it was the prettiest thing he'd ever seen and Felicity would feel like the most special girl in the world.

It was on this day that Felicity used to be completely happy.

But then he left and wrecked everything.

So now on this day, Felicity locked herself in her room, turning her phone off so she wouldn't have to read the concerned messages she would undoubtedly receive from Laurel, Sara and even Oliver once he realised that she hadn't sent him a single text all day.

She lay in bed and hated him and hated herself and everyone in the whole goddamn universe until she finally fell asleep for a few hours. When she woke up, she ventured outside for food alone before retreating right back into her room again.

However, as evening approached Felicity realised that she was losing her mind so she turned her phone back on. She hesitated for two seconds before deciding _fuck it_ and texted Tommy.

_I need a ride to Jackson's party. Would really appreciate if you could come pick me up. Don't tell Oliver. Or Laurel or Sara. Please._

It wasn't long before he replied.

_Okay. I'll be there in a few._

Felicity thanked her lucky stars that he didn't ask questions before she began getting ready. As soon as she was done, Tommy texted her saying he was here.

Perfect timing.

“Do you know how worried everyone is?” were the first words Felicity heard when she entered Tommy's car.

She didn't reply.

“Laurel, Sara, Oliver and I have been trying to reach you all day,” he continued, his eyes on the road but Felicity could hear the tiredness in his voice.

“I'm sorry,” she mumbled, looking out the window so she wouldn't have to look at him because she did feel bad, she felt so guilty for what she was putting all her friends through but she just wanted to be alone.

It had nothing to do with them and everything to do with her.

They were all perfect. She was the fucking train wreck.

“Are you okay?” Tommy asked now, gently. “Laurel told us about...this day. What it means to you.”

“It doesn't mean anything to me,” she snapped before closing her eyes for a second and taking a deep breath.

Tommy didn't deserve that. He was one of the people she had stressed out so much and here he was, more concerned with her well being than anything else and it was suddenly really hard for her to keep it together.

But she refused to cry for that man.

“Yeah I'm okay.” she said softly afterwards.

“I just need a ton of alcohol in my system. Then I'll be even better,” she continued, trying her best to sound normal while she was actually falling apart inside.

Felicity spent the rest of the journey trying to convince Tommy that she was fine but she was failing miserably. She was never as thankful as when they finally pulled up in front of Jackson's house.

The car had barely come to a halt when Felicity was rushing out, weaving in and out of people to lose Tommy as quickly as possible. She only needed him for a ride. Nothing else. Besides, he would have a much better time tonight if he wasn't babysitting her. That's what she told herself anyway.

Felicity hit the jackpot when she found herself in the kitchen and stumbled upon Jackson and some of his friends doing shots. She didn't need any persuading at all to join them.

It wasn't long before the world was spinning and everything was so loud and bright and the awful feeling that had been in her chest all day finally began disappearing.

She raised another glass to her mouth because she needed to be numb she needed to feel nothing at all, when suddenly the object was being taken out of her hand.

“Hey!” she shouted, whirling around to find Oliver holding her stolen glass.

“Oliver!” she exclaimed, butterflies immediately fluttering about in her stomach. “Hi! What are you doing here? I'm so glad to see you! But you have to get your own that's mine!”

“I think you've had enough,” Oliver said, resting the glass on the counter. “And Tommy called me.”

“I told him not to tell you anything!” she huffed, folding her arms and very angry at Tommy Merlyn and less glad to see Oliver than she was a few seconds ago.

“Come on,” Oliver said as he began gently leading her out of the kitchen.

“What are you doing? I wasn't done!” Felicity yelled as she pulled away, only to stumble backwards and it was Oliver reacting quickly enough to grab her arm that saved her from falling on her ass.

Somehow she managed to stumble forward after, smacking into his chest and okay maybe he was right and she didn't need anymore drinks.

A giggle erupted from her throat and she she didn't know why it was so funny that she had almost fallen, it just _was_ and it hit her then just how drunk she was.

It also hit her how close she and Oliver were standing. His fingers were still wrapped around her arm and there was like, almost no space between them and as Felicity looked up she realised how easy it would be to kiss him.

She wanted to kiss him very much.

At that moment, she couldn't think of one single reason why she shouldn't.

Her eyes were locked on his and the blaring music around them seemed muted as she lost herself in those deep pools of blue. His eyes were an ocean and she wanted to drown in it. The seconds slowed as neither of them moved a muscle and time stretched on and on, begging for something to be done so Felicity obliged as she tiptoed and found Oliver's lips with hers and suddenly she was kissing him.

_Felicity Smoak was kissing Oliver Queen._

This was everything she had ever wanted.

All of her dreams should be coming true.

But it didn't take long for her to realise that he wasn't kissing back.

Abruptly, she pulled away. His eyes were wide and he wore a surprised expression and Felicity had never felt so stupid in her entire life.

She needed to get away.

However, as soon as she tried to merely take a few steps, the room started spinning and her stomach was swirling and oh god she was going to throw up. She swayed again and the noise around her was all too much everything was all too much and her head was pounding and her heart was breaking and she just wanted everything to stop.

But it was Oliver's arm around her that steadied her once more and Felicity was so tired so she gave up and leaned against him and didn't protest one bit when she felt herself being lifted off the floor and carried away. She shut her eyes and buried her face into his chest as her head and stomach continued to fight against her.

Silently, she made a vow to herself that tonight would be the last night she would hold on to Oliver.

Before she knew it, they were in a room and Felicity was being gently lowered on to a bed and she didn't have any idea as to where exactly they were but she didn't care. She groaned as she buried her head into a pillow but only a second later, her stomach lurched and _shit she was going to throw up._

Frantically, she sat up, her hand over her mouth and Oliver was instantly at her side with a bucket or something which she wasted no time emptying the contents of her stomach into. Oliver held her hair back as she vomited her life out and Felicity couldn't even muster up the energy to be embarrassed because what was the point, he didn't even like her like that anyway.

He liked Laurel.

So who the hell cared about what she looked like right now?

It was then, as she was retching into what she realised was a goddamn wastepaper basket that the tears she had been holding back all day finally broke loose, streaming down her face and Felicity never felt worse in her entire life.

All men seemed to do was break her heart.

As soon as she was done, she broke away from Oliver, quickly wiping away the wetness on her face before collapsing on the bed and turning away from him because she didn't want to see him right now she didn't even want to be anywhere near him.

The room was still spinning and she just wanted everything to disappear she just wanted everyone to go away.

She tightly shut her eyes as she felt the world beginning to fade and she knew she was close to passing out but she welcomed the dark tendrils pulling her down into unconsciousness.

Felicity vaguely heard Oliver asking if she was okay, his voice distant, like if he was underwater.

She wanted to laugh because she was anything but alright.

Felicity opened her mouth to answer but her words got lost somewhere and suddenly she was falling into a pit of blackness and finally, everything was still.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter hurt me a lot tbh but I hope everyone else enjoyed it. And of course, thanks for reading.


	10. It Was All A Mistake

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity wakes up feeling like shit and tells Laurel and Sara about the kiss.

Felicity slowly opened her eyes and every muscle in her body protested against this action. She groaned as she sat up, rubbing her fingers against her temple as if that would do anything to calm her awful headache.

She looked around at her surroundings, being extra careful not to move her head too fast, as she wondered where the hell she was.

Suddenly, something caught her eye at the edge of the bed like looked like...the top of someone's head?

With her brain still foggy, Felicity moved closer to the end and peered over only to be met with the sight of not one person, but four, all leaning against each other and propped up against the bed, fast asleep.

Her eyes moved over Laurel, Sara, Tommy and Oliver and it was as she saw _him_ that the events of the night before came rushing back.

She kissed Oliver.

He didn't kiss back.

She also threw up in front of him.

Felicity must have made some sort of noise in her distressed state because all of a sudden they all began stirring and next thing she knew they were awake.

“Hey,” Laurel called gently, getting up and making her way over to the bed to sit next to Felicity. “How are you feeling?”

“I hope you slept great because I certainly didn't,” Sara muttered, rubbing her neck as she joined them. “Did you really have to sprawl out on the entire bed?”

“What are you guys doing here?” Felicity mumbled, still trying to fight past the remaining clouds in her brain.

“The guys called us,” Sara said, nodding towards Oliver and Tommy who were now standing and watching her with concern present on their features.

Felicity quickly averted her gaze because she couldn't even look at Oliver.

“I feel like shit,” she moaned, resting her head against Laurel's shoulder as her friend wrapped an arm around her.

“You should,” Tommy said. “You drank _a lot_. After you ditched me of course.”

“I'm sorry,” she mumbled.

And she was. She felt absolutely terrible for making her friends worry so much and then the fact that they stayed here with her all night instead of going home to their comfortable beds. They slept on the floor for God's sakes. All for her.

“I owe all of you an apology actually,” she said, raising her head to look at everyone but she still couldn't meet Oliver's eyes.

“It's okay,” it was Oliver who replied this time, his voice gentle, meant to comfort her but all he managed to do was make her hurt even more.

“Everything last night was a mistake,” she said, finally gathering up the courage to meet Oliver's gaze and hoping that the message was clear.

He simply stared at her for a moment, his expression unreadable before he gave the slightest nod, imperceptible to anyone else but she noticed.

_He understood._

Felicity broke eye contact again as she struggled not to fall apart because it was the worst thing in the world when the one person you wanted didn't want you back.

“I want to go home,” she said softly to Laurel.

“Okay,” she responded gently, knowing that something was wrong but she wasn't going to prod in front of everybody else.

“Oh and I already texted your mom from your phone and told her that you spent the night with us. So that's one thing you don't have to worry about,” Sara told her and guilt instantly filled Felicity as she realised that she hadn't even thought of her mom once and she would have been so worried if Felicity had been gone all night without any word from her and she was probably the shittiest person on the planet right now.

“Thank you,” she said gratefully.

With the help of the Lance sisters, Felicity made it out of the room, down the stairs and all the way into the car without falling and injuring herself. This hangover was seriously fucking her up. She was never drinking again.

A stupid, annoying voice at the back of her head whispered that maybe it was _someone_ who was messing her up even more than the alcohol but Felicity pushed it away because she didn't want Oliver anywhere in her thoughts.

It was when they had finally made it back to her place and they were all sprawled out on her bed, did Laurel start asking questions.

“So what's wrong?” she inquired.

“And don't you dare say 'nothing',” Sara interjected before Felicity could even open her mouth.

Felicity paused for a few seconds, wondering how exactly she should tell them when she decided _fuck it._

“I kissed Oliver,” she blurted out, three simple words.

“You what?” Laurel exclaimed.

“Wait repeat that I don't think I heard correctly,” Sara said.

“I kissed Oliver,” Felicity repeated.

“Okay nope I did hear correctly. Alrighty then.”

“And?” Laurel asked, waiting in anticipation.

“And he didn't kiss me back,” she responded.

The sisters fell silent for a moment and Felicity couldn't help but feel embarrassed all over again.

“Are you sure?” Sara questioned. “You were really drunk maybe you just misinterpreted or something.”

“I was very drunk and I barely remember anything from last night but I certainly remember that,” Felicity said, her voice coated in bitterness.

“Maybe he was afraid of taking advantage of you,” Laurel suggested gently. “Maybe he was just trying to be a good friend.”

“Stop trying to make me feel better okay. He doesn't want me. That's all there is to it,” Felicity snapped.

“I'm sorry-” she began, instantly feeling guilty because they were just trying to help but it was hard to be nice when all she could think about was that she wasn't good enough and that she would never be good enough and everything inside her was breaking all over again.

“It's okay,” Sara said, shooting her the tiniest of smiles. “And he's a total asshole anyway. I would kill for the chance to kiss you.”

Felicity couldn't help but laugh and then all of a sudden tears were streaming down her face and she couldn't do it anymore she couldn't hold it in any longer.

Laurel and Sara wasted no time in wrapping their arms around her and pulling her closer and neither of them said a word as they let her cry.

She cried over Oliver for breaking what was left of her heart.

She cried over her father for leaving and shattering her in pieces when she was only a little girl.

And she cried for herself, because she deserved so much better.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all I want to wish everyone a happy new year! I hope 2016 will be good to all of us. Also I just want to say a special thank you to everyone who read my fics over the course of last year and if you've left kudos or comments all of that always make my day. You guys made my year much better actually so thank you very very much.


	11. Playing Matchmaker

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver doesn't show up on the day of the gift exchange and Felicity tries to help Laurel and Tommy.

In the blink of an eye, everything was different.

Felicity didn't know who started it. Maybe it was her, giving Oliver the cold shoulder. But what else was she supposed to do? She was just protecting herself. Trying to fix what was left of her heart. It was no one's fault that every time she was near him she shattered all over again. It was just the way it was.

Or maybe it was him. With awkwardness basically radiating off him as he tried to tiptoe his way around her, unsure of what to do or say. Unsure of how to even look her in the eye.

Maybe it was the both of them.

Maybe it was everything.

But neither of them uttered a word about the kiss. They didn't say anything at all. Just like that, Oliver and Felicity went from conversations at three in the morning to complete silence sitting next to each other in Chemistry. And what a deafening silence it was.

She probably wouldn't have heard his voice at all if it wasn't for the rare moments where they were both required to speak in class, where it absolutely necessary and completely unavoidable. And even then, their words were mumbled and eye contact was avoided and they spoke _at_ each other rather than _to_ one another.

Oliver never said Felicity's name anymore.

But she didn't care.

This was what she needed to get over him.

She needed to stop caring about a boy who was never going care for her.

It was strange, not having Oliver around anymore. Felicity didn't realise but at some point, he became one of the biggest parts of her life.

She would pick up her phone to text him after seeing something that reminded her of him, or make a mental note to tell him about something that happened only to have it hit her once more that they weren't even speaking.

And her heart would break all over again.

Because even before they had gotten so close, hell even from her first week of school, they had always been friendly. Before class started Oliver was always the one making some stupid joke to get her to laugh or calming her down if she was nervous about a test.

But now there was nothing.

Felicity didn't know why she felt like she had just broken up with her boyfriend when they were never even close to dating. He was just a boy that she liked. Who didn't like her back.

He was never hers.

So she ignored the little stabs of pain in her stomach whenever she laid eyes on him and the way the silence between them was the loudest thing she ever experienced and all of the impulses to call him or text him or go to his house or meet him after school for a ride home because none of those things were possible anymore.

Felicity merely tried to survive each day.

But even that was starting to seem too difficult.

Her world just wasn't the same without him.

 

On the last day of school, the day they had to give their presents to their Secret Santas, Felicity marched into Homeroom with a fierce look on her face, ready to brave the storm and just get it over with.

She was just going to give Oliver his gift, mutter a _Merry Christmas,_ and walk away.

That was it.

She had it all planned out.

Only, he didn't show up.

“He's not here,” Felicity said softly to Laurel as they entered the classroom.

“Maybe he's just running late,” Laurel suggested. “It's Oliver. He's always late.”

But then the bell rang and a few minutes later their teacher walked in and the clock kept ticking and Oliver never came.

Quite a few students never showed actually.

It was the last day which meant that none of their teachers was actually doing any real work and if they did, it was nothing that you couldn't get from someone who had been in class.

So obviously, this resulted in a bunch of people not receiving a present and to say they were disgruntled was an understatement.

Unfortunately, Felicity was one of them.

She sat in her seat for the entire class with her arms folded, glaring at Oliver's present on her desk as she silently cursed its future owner and everyone else in the universe for that matter.

If she had known that Oliver or the person she was supposed to get a gift from wasn't going to be here, she would still be in bed.

But no, she hadn't wanted anyone to be disappointed so she hauled ass that morning only to find out that it was for nothing.

Nice.

She certainly knew that Mrs. Clarke was never going to do Secret Santa again.

Her future students were damn lucky.

 

Felicity managed to survive the day so far and she couldn't help the sigh that escaped her lips as she plopped down at their usual lunch table, meeting her best friends.

They were in the middle of planning all the movies they were going to watch together during the break, probably the only conversation that could make Felicity feel better, when suddenly they were approached by Tommy.

“Where's your boyfriend?” Sara fired as soon as he sat down.

Felicity wasn't the only one annoyed that Oliver didn't have the decency to come to school today.

“Don't you have any friends in your own grade?” Tommy asked.

“Don't you have any friends who aren't Oliver?” Sara shot back and Tommy couldn't help it when his lips curled into a smile.

“Touché,” he mumbled before turning to Felicity.

“Okay so Oliver told me to tell you that he is very sorry that he couldn't make it today,” Tommy said to her. “But tonight is his family's annual Christmas party and he got roped into helping out with the planning and stuff.”

"So he couldn't tell me this himself?” Felicity asked with raised eyebrows.

“Well, he guessed that if he tried to call that you wouldn't answer or if he texted you that you wouldn't read it. Just a little hunch,” Tommy replied.

Felicity's face reddened because he had a point. She was doing a pretty good job at shutting Oliver out.

“But you're invited to the party tonight,” he continued. “You all are actually.”

His eyes flittered over Sara and Laurel, spending an extra second on the latter before he looked at Felicity again, desperately trying to hide a blush.

“And he said that you could just give him his present there.”

Felicity silently studied Tommy's, well Oliver's request because she didn't want to go to that thing at all but she didn't want his present sitting around her house either. She had flung all the gifts Oliver had bought her and anything else that was associated with him in the back of her closet or a drawer and his gift was the last remaining thing that was linked to him.

She wanted to get rid of it.

She _needed_ to get rid of it.

“Fine,” she said eventually. “I'll be there.”

“Great,” Tommy said, flashing her a smile. “See you guys later.”

He then rose from where he was sitting and the girls watched him walk away, Laurel a bit longer than the others.

“I hope I have something good to wear,” Sara said. “I need to get me a rich hottie tonight.”

Felicity couldn't help the bubble of laughter that escaped from her throat.

“Well I hope the both of you have fun,” Laurel declared.

“You're coming too,” Felicity said in a voice that left no room for arguments.

“Felicity-” Laurel began protesting, deciding to argue anyway because she was the most stubborn person on the planet.

Well Felicity was even more stubborn.

“Don't,” she instantly cut her off. “You are going. And you and Tommy are finally going to talk.”

“What?” Laurel asked with wide eyes as Sara leaned back with a smile.

The younger Lance sister lived for this kind of shit.

“We know you have feelings for Tommy. Don't even try to deny it,” Felicity said when Laurel opened her mouth in defiance.

“Despite what you think, you haven't been doing a good job at hiding your feelings,” Felicity continued.

“An awful job actually,” Sara butt in.

“Honestly, I don't know how Tommy hasn't figured it out yet but that probably has something to with the fact that you both are the most oblivious people in the world. Because you still haven't figured out that he likes you back either.”

“What?” Laurel exclaimed.

“I fucking knew it!” Sara shouted.

Felicity had thought that she could let them work out their feelings by themselves but so far they had gotten nowhere and she was tired of watching them be idiots. So she was finally going to spill everything.

“He told me at that party you guys dragged me to a while ago to help me get over Oliver. The same night he told me that you guys had made out,” Felicity explained.

“Shit always happens at parties,” Sara mumbled.

Laurel sat in silence for a few moments, taking in everything Felicity had just said.

“He likes me?” she finally uttered and Sara snorted while Felicity rolled her eyes.

“Yes!” Felicity practically shouted. “And that's why you're going to the Queens' Christmas party tonight so that you can both talk. Because honestly, I am tired of the tension in the air whenever you two are near each other.”

“It's so thick you can cut it with a knife,” Sara added. “Unbearable.”

“Okay,” Laurel nodded, with the biggest smile on her face, ignoring their little jabs as she looked as if she was seeing the sun for the first time.

A grin appeared on Felicity's own features because she didn't think she had ever seen Laurel so happy.

“Also,” Sara suddenly said, looking at Felicity. “Laurel and Tommy aren't the only people who need to talk tonight.”

Felicity stared back at her because she didn't know where she was going with this.

“You and Oliver,” she simply stated.

“What? We don't have anything to talk about,” Felicity responded.

"Laurel and Tommy aren't the only ones with tension in the room whenever they're near each other,” she said.

“It's true,” Laurel nodded in agreement and this time it was Felicity being cornered.

“Yeah awkward tension over the fact that I kissed him when he never even had feelings for me in the first place,” Felicity argued because she refused to get her hopes up again.

Laurel and Sara had no idea what they were talking about.

“If he didn't like you even a little then why did he buy you eight fucking presents for Hanukkah?” Sara asked.

“Because he's a billionaire!” she yelled.

“Felicity before the kiss made everything weird, you guys were basically already like a couple. Just without the physical aspect of it,” Laurel said. “And you never saw the way he looked at you. The way he still looks at you when he thinks no one's watching.”

“But he said-” Felicity began.

“I know what he said but maybe things changed!” Laurel interrupted.

“Maybe he stopped liking Laurel,” Sara suggested. “Or maybe he just thought he liked her. I don't know. But there was something between the two of you and I don't think either one of you realised.”

“But you guys need to talk. You can't just leave things like this,” Laurel told her.

“Fine,” Felicity relented. “I'll talk to him.”

“Good. And wear the hot red top he bought you,” Sara said with a wink, causing Felicity to fling one of her fries at her.

“Why are you always throwing food at me?” Sara complained.

“Because you ask for it,” Laurel replied, earning herself a glare from her sister.

At that moment, the bell rang and they all groaned before getting up, each of them telling themselves that the day was almost over, and then they would be free.

 

Before last period, Felicity found herself rushing towards Tommy's locker. She thanked her lucky stars when she saw that he was still getting books for his next class.

“Tommy!” she called out, hurrying over to him.

“Hey. You okay?” he asked, watching as she struggled to catch her breath.

“I'm fine,” she waved away his question. “Okay so I told Laurel that you like her.”

“What?” Tommy immediately exclaimed. “Felicity!”

“Okay wait calm down she likes you too!” Felicity shouted.

She probably should have started with that.

Tommy paused for a moment, processing Felicity's words.

“She likes me?” he asked and Felicity rolled her eyes because these two were going to be the death of her.

“Yes!” she exclaimed.

“She told you this?,” he inquired.

“Yes she did,” Felicity replied exasperatedly because she needed to get to class. “So the both of you are going to sit down and talk about your feelings tonight.”

“Okay. Yeah. Sure,” Tommy said, still in disbelief and God these idiots really were going to kill her.

“I've got to get to class,” she told him. “See you later.”

“See you later,” he replied, sending her a wave as he wore the biggest grin on his face.

Felicity was pretty sure he was the happiest guy on earth right now.

She waved back before running off and she couldn't help her own smile.

Even if her own love life was a mess, at least theirs was good. She was just glad that they were both finally on the same page.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was supposed to post this earlier but I was out all evening. I need to post the rest of this story before school starts on Monday because I'll be really busy from then. So the last chapter is coming tomorrow! Hope everyone enjoyed this one and thank you all for reading!


	12. Under The Mistletoe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver and Felicity finally talk...amongst other things.

Tommy had told Felicity to text him when she arrived at the Queen mansion. She didn't know why. But she didn't really care to question him so she did as he requested.

This lead to a message in reply to hers, saying that she was to meet Oliver outside and giving her directions as to where exactly on the sprawling grounds she would find him.

So she bid Laurel and Sara farewell before suspiciously wandering off on her own to look for him because something was fishy about this whole thing.

Finally, she spotted him, standing where Tommy said he would be. Only, along with Oliver, there was a little table laden with food and candles, accompanied by two chairs.

“What's this?” she asked as she walked up to him.

Silently, he made his way towards her before thrusting a little folded piece of paper into her hand. Confused, Felicity opened it up and read the words written on it.

_Felicity Smoak._

It took a second before it dawned on her and she looked up at him with the realisation written on her features.

“I got you,” Oliver stated the obvious. “For Secret Santa. It was why I was so surprised when you told me that you got me.”

“So...?” Felicity trailed off, gesturing at the dinner laid out before them.

“Merry Christmas? Or Happy Secret Santa? I don't know,” Oliver rambled nervously.

“Your gift is a date?” she asked, still a bit unsure of her words.

“Yes,” was all he replied.

“With me?” she continued to inquire.

Oliver nodded in response.

“I thought you liked Laurel,” she said because her head was spinning.

“Turns out I was chasing the wrong girl,” Oliver replied softly, one single sentence stealing the air from her lungs.

“Wait, you can't do this,” Felicity said, overwhelmed. “You can't just not talk to me for days and then spring this on me.”

“To be fair you were the one that shut me out,” Oliver shot back, unable to hide hurt in his voice. “You completely ignored me. It was like I didn't exist to you anymore.”

“Because I was humiliated after I kissed you! If you liked me why didn't you kiss me back? I felt so stupid Oliver!” she yelled, everything that had been bottled up inside her ever since that night finally coming out.

“Felicity do you have any idea how messed up you were? You were really drunk and broken and vulnerable. I didn't want to take advantage of you,” he explained. “I didn't want to do something that might have ended up hurting you even more.”

“And I was scared that you would wake up in the morning sober again and regret the whole thing,” he added softly.

“I wouldn't have,” she replied quietly. “Regretted it. If you had kissed back.”

“I know that now,” he sighed. “Tommy told me you liked me. He had this diagram.”

Felicity couldn't help but laugh as she remembered Tommy's drawing from when he was drunk and Oliver's mild confusion over it.

“I missed that,” he said all of a sudden, a little smile appearing on his face. “Hearing you laugh.”

Felicity looked down at her shoes so he wouldn't see the way she was blushing.

“I fucked up,” he said, causing her to meet his eyes again. “By not trying harder to explain things after the kiss but after you said that everything was a mistake-”

“I only said that because I thought that _you_ thought that!” she cut him off exasperatedly.

“We both fucked up,” she sighed, running her fingers through her hair.

“I fucked up first when I told you that I liked Laurel,” he said.

“Did you?” Felicity couldn't help but ask. “Did you ever really like her?”

“I thought I did but...I don't know I'm not even sure anymore,” he replied. “Maybe it was always you all along.”

“And it took you so long to figure it out because...?” she teased.

“Honestly, I thought that you would never go for someone like me so I just never even let myself consider the option that we could be together,” he confessed.

“Are you serious?” she exclaimed.

She couldn't believe that Oliver Queen thought he wasn't good enough for her.

And here she was all along feeling like she wasn't good enough for _him_.

“Felicity you're the smartest, most amazing person I know. I can barely keep up with you. You're going to take over the world before you're thirty. And I'm just the guy who parties too much and spends all of his parents' money and can barely pass his classes.”

Felicity's heart broke a little in that moment. He had no idea what an incredible person he actually was.

“Oliver you're so much more than that,” she said softly. “You're the guy who babysits his sister without complaint and lets her win all your arguments and goes out and buys the best gift you can find for her for Christmas. You're the guy who always drinks less than his best friend whenever you guys go out so you can make sure he gets safely into a bed or couch at least and that nothing ever happens to him. You're the guy who brightens up my day just by existing and listens to all my rants about the tv shows and movies that I'm obsessed with and who bought me eight gifts for Hanukkah and who is always there when I need him, no matter what. You're the guy that gives me butterflies in my stomach just by looking at me and makes my heart race when you say my name and Oliver you're perfect to me, all your flaws and everything.”

“You're the guy that I love,” she blurted, the words rushing out of her mouth before she could even think.

Oliver sucked in a breath at her sudden declaration, his eyes going wide and Felicity's heart pounded in her chest as she stood there, frozen in place.

And then he smiled.

“I love you too,” he replied tenderly and Felicity's whole world stood still.

Those four syllables repeated themselves in her brain over and over and Felicity wasn't sure if this was real or if she was dreaming.

They let the silence cover them for a few moments as they merely looked at each other with wondrous expressions as if they were both seeing clearly for the first time.

“Felicity Smoak, would you please join me for dinner?” Oliver was the one who spoke first.

“I would love too,” she replied, a grin still plastered on her features.

She giggled as Oliver held out her chair for her and then walked over to his. It was only after they were both seated, did Felicity remember the present she was still holding in her hand.

“Oh!” she exclaimed. “This is for you.”

“Happy Secret Santa,” she said as she handed him the bag from across the table.

“All I want is you this Christmas,” he said, causing her heart to skip a few beats.

“Well you already have me,” she responded with a smile.

Felicity bit her lip in anticipation as she watched Oliver unwrap his present.

She had gone over to his house one day when she knew he would be at Tommy's and asked Moira to pull out the old family albums. Very politely of course.

Oliver had confessed to her during one of their three in the morning conversations that the best day of his life had been during one of their trips to Disney World, when Thea was just three years old. His parents didn't bicker once and for the first time in years, Oliver had thought that they actually seemed to be in love. Thea didn't cry at all for the whole day, which Felicity was told was a very big deal and the whole family was just lighter and happier. It was one of those rare days where everything was absolutely perfect.

So Felicity found the only photo that they had with all four of them from that day.

And she got it blown up and restored, because honestly it wasn't in the best of conditions, and put in a very nice picture frame.

Now, she watched as his eyes widened a little and a tiny smile graced his features as he carefully moved his fingers across the picture.

“So you can always remember the good times,” she blurted out nervously. “A little reminder for when things gets bad or...you just need to be reminded.”

“Thank you,” he said softly, looking up at her and the way he was staring at her caused her stomach to do flip flops.

“You really like it?” she asked tentatively because a part of her had been whispering that this was the most stupid idea.

“I love it,” he reassured, still looking at her like she was the reason the sun rose every morning.

Felicity beamed as she let out a sigh of relief at his statement.

Finally, they both began to dig into their food and Felicity realised that she was actually starving.

“This is so good,” she said through a mouthful of pasta.

“Thanks,” Oliver replied with a smug smile.

“Wait did you make this?” Felicity asked incredulously because she knew they had people to do their cooking and cleaning and...well everything and never in a million years had she pegged Oliver for a cook.

“Yeah. One of the nights I had to babysit Thea she wanted pasta and whatever Thea Queen wants, Thea Queen gets. So I tried something. And she loved it. So now she forces me to make this on a regular basis,” Oliver explained.

“I'm gonna start forcing you to make this on a regular basis,” she mumbled before stuffing another forkful into her mouth.

It was in the middle of dessert, when they were eating cake that Oliver humbly admitted was made by the chef, that a few snowflakes slowly began drifting down.

Felicity looked up at the sky with the brightest smile on her face.

She loved the snow.

Felicity couldn't help the giggles that bubbled from her throat as she admired the snow falling around them. It was beautiful.

For about five more seconds.

Because then she started freezing.

“We should head inside,” Oliver suggested, seeing her beginning to shiver.

She nodded in agreement and then they were both flying through the snow, which was beginning to fall pretty hard now, squealing from the cold as they hurried towards the mansion.

By the time they made it, they were both out of breath and laughing like children for no apparent reason and Oliver grabbed Felicity's hand as he weaved them in and out through the crowd, flashing quick smiles at people he knew and sending them little waves in order to be polite.

But it was obvious to everyone in the room that downstairs at this gala was the last place that Oliver Queen wanted to be.

So no one even thought about stopping him, especially once they noticed the gleam in his eye and the wide smile on his face and the girl on his arm and as they put two and two together, whispers soon erupted that maybe the Queen boy had finally found something worth holding on to.

Little did they all know how right they were.

As Felicity was being whisked away, she noticed Laurel and Tommy talking in one of the corners of the room, both of them appearing to radiate sunshine.

Oliver and Felicity weren't the only ones who caused a stir that night.

After what felt like forever, they stumbled in front of the doorway to his bedroom and somehow Oliver's arms were around her waist and hers were around his neck and she couldn't remember the last time she had felt this happy.

Suddenly, she looked up and a grin spread across her face.

“Mistletoe?” she asked teasingly, her eyes sparkling. “This was your plan all along.”

“Well I thought we deserved a do over at our first kiss,” Oliver responded softly.

“I think so too,” she admitted quietly.

At that moment, Felicity stretched on her toes and met his lips with hers as she pulled him closer against her and he happily obliged. Oliver's arms tightened around her and this time, he definitely kissed back.

Her eyes fell shut as the whole world disappeared around them and her and Oliver were the only two people left on earth. Felicity lost herself in him, fireworks exploding in her chest as every one of her nerve endings was set on fire and she was burning, burning, burning but she never wanted to let go she relished the flames that devoured her because they were caused by Oliver.

Time slowed down just for them and every other moment paled in comparison to this one because none would ever be as great.

They kissed as if there was no tomorrow and for them there might as well have been none because the walls could have collapsed around them and neither one would have cared a bit they wouldn't have even moved.

Eventually, they pulled away, both of them drunk on happiness with stars dancing in their eyes.

“That was a much better first kiss,” Felicity whispered, her face still mere inches away from his.

“I still think we should practice some more,” Oliver said softly, his bright blue eyes locked on hers and Felicity was drowning in them. “Just to get it absolutely perfect.”

“Well you do know that I strive for perfection,” Felicity replied with a grin.

And so they kissed again. And again. And again.

Before they knew it they ended up sprawled out on Oliver's bed with his arms still around her, because now that he had her he was never letting her go and Felicity felt like her heart was about to burst.

“Nice top by the way,” Oliver mumbled, as Felicity buried her head into his chest.

She had taken Sara's advice and worn the one that Oliver had gotten her.

“This really great guy bought it for me,” she said, looking up at him, a goofy smile still plastered on her features.

“He bought that for very selfish reasons I can assure you because you look really hot in it,” Oliver said, causing Felicity to laugh.

“So I should probably be wary of accepting gifts from him in the future,” she mused, in mock seriousness.

“I never said that,” Oliver quickly responded. 

The rest of the night was spent with Oliver and Felicity lost in their own little world as the snow fell outside and they tangled themselves in each others arms to keep warm as their laughter bounced off the walls. For one night, everything was absolutely perfect.

And as Felicity snuggled against Oliver, a feeling of sheer contentment settled in the pit of her stomach, she decided that maybe she didn't hate Secret Santa after all.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here's the last chapter! I just want to say thank you so much to everyone who read this and thank you for leaving kudos and comments. I had no idea when i posted the first chapter that people would even like this story so much. Hope everyone enjoyed it and I must admit that I am a bit sad for it to end. However, I wanted to post a chapter from Oliver's pov just so we could see things from his side and his own feelings and everything. I actually started it last night but because school starts back for me tomorrow it won't be up until next weekend. So once again thank you all so so much for reading this!


	13. A Little Too Much-Oliver's POV

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver goes to a party to find Felicity and realises he has feelings for her.

Oliver walked through the door with only one person on his mind as his eyes searched the crowd for a certain blonde.

He had thought it strange when he didn't hear from Felicity all morning, so he tried to call, just to check up on her and make sure that everything was alright, only to be sent straight to voicemail. So he got a hold of Laurel next, and that's when she told him the significance of this particular day.

Unable to keep from worrying, he continued to try to contact her because he needed to hear her voice. He needed to know that she was okay.

He lost count of how many times his attempts failed before he ended up in his car and before he knew it he was at the front of her house. But no matter how many times he knocked on the door, no one came. Eventually, he was forced to give up.

Oliver was in the middle of nervously pacing his room again when he received a call from Tommy saying that Felicity was at Jackson's party. She had asked him for a ride and ditched him as soon as they arrived. And she wasn't fine at all.

Hurriedly, he called Laurel because the four of them had been in contact all day in case if anyone heard from Felicity.

Wasting no time, he instantly headed towards Jackson's place, pushing down mild annoyance at Tommy for even driving her to this thing or not contacting him the minute she texted.

This wasn't his fault.

So now, he weaved his way through the crowd of drunken idiots who kept getting in his way and ignored everyone who tried to talk to him because they weren't important and the only person he wanted was her.

It was in the kitchen he finally spotted her, doing shots with Jackson and some of his friends and a flare of anger instantly rose up in Oliver's chest.

The sudden emotion surprised him.

He didn't have anything against those guys. They were pretty cool. One would even consider them all to be friends.

But Oliver didn't have time to dwell on his confusion so he pushed every thought that didn't have to do with Felicity out of his mind as he approached her.

Her back was to him and he could see her glass raised in her hand but before she could even get it anywhere near her mouth, Oliver was snatching it away.

Immediately, she whirled around, fire in her eyes but the flames were quickly doused when she saw it was him.

“Oliver!” she exclaimed happily. “Hi! What are you doing here? I'm so glad to see you! But you have to get your own that's mine!”

_She was so drunk._

“I think you've had enough,” Oliver said softly but firmly as he placed the glass on the counter. “And Tommy called me.”

“I told him not to tell you anything!” she huffed, folding her arms as she frowned and she did not look happy to see him anymore.

“Come on,” he said quietly as he gently wrapped his fingers around her wrist and began leading her out of the kitchen because he needed to get her home.

“What are you doing? I wasn't done!” she yelled defiantly, pulling away from him but that movement caused her to stumble backwards and it was Oliver quickly grabbing her that saved her from ending up sprawled out on the floor.

He was about to ask if she was okay but the next thing he knew, she was stumbling forward and smacking right against his chest and as a reflex, his hand snaked around her waist in order to steady her.

A giggle erupted from her throat and Oliver knew how much he needed to get her home but somehow, with Felicity leaning against him and his arm around her, he found himself unable to move.

_He didn't want to move._

She looked up at him then, the smile slowly fading from her face as her eyes locked on his and suddenly everything seemed to fade away as all he knew was the blonde in his arms and time stretched on and on, patiently waiting to see what would be done next. Felicity's perfect pink lips were parted and inches away from his face and begging to be kissed and his heart was racing in his chest and he had never felt this way in his entire life he didn't know what was happening. He stood there as she tiptoed and brought herself closer to him and his brain was screaming _not like this_ but he was frozen and selfishly he didn't do a thing to stop her and before he knew it, she was kissing him.

She was kissing him.

_Felicity Smoak was kissing him._

All of a sudden the taste of alcohol from her mouth hit him and he broke out of his his stupor as he remembered how drunk she was, how vulnerable she was and so he didn't kiss back.

It didn't take long for her to pull away once she realised and the broken look in her eyes caused Oliver to shatter.

She broke free of his hold and tried to leave once more but she still couldn't take two steps without almost falling and she ended up right back in his arms.

Oliver saw the exact moment she gave up, her eyes falling shut as she just leaned against him and before he could even think about it, he was picking her up bridal style and carrying her upstairs.

He had crashed here many times with Tommy after a wild night so he took her to the guest room he knew was the best and gently set her down on the bed.

Felicity groaned as she buried her head into a pillow. The amount of alcohol she ingested was beginning to take a toll on her.

Suddenly, she sat up with a panicked look in her eyes and her hand over her mouth and _oh god she was going to throw up._

As quickly as possible, Oliver grabbed the wastepaper basket at the corner of the room and rushed towards her and as soon as he was at her side, she proceeded to vomit her life out.

Oliver held her hair back so that it wouldn't get dirty as she clutched the basket so hard that her knuckles were turning white and Oliver ached so much for her.

Tears began streaming down her face as she retched and all he wanted to do was hold her in his arms but he kept seeing her face when he didn't kiss back and he wanted to make everything okay but he had no idea how.

He had never felt so helpless.

As soon as she was done, she wiped away the tears from her face and collapsed on the bed once more, turning away from him.

Oliver stood up, unsure of what to do or say.

He had never seen someone so broken.

“Are you okay?” he finally asked after what felt like eternity, hating the words as they fell from his mouth because it was the most stupid question in the world of course she wasn't she was falling apart right in front of him and there wasn't a damn thing he could do.

“No one's ever gonna fall in love with me,” she whispered in the saddest voice Oliver had ever heard.

He didn't think that she had even realised that she had spoken.

“I already have,” Oliver whispered back, each syllable racing out into the air before consulting his brain and he stood there, his feet planted to the floor as his lungs constricted and the full force of his confession hit him like a ton of bricks.

_He loved Felicity._

His head was spinning as he tried to wrap his mind around everything because he thought he liked Laurel and Felicity was just his friend, she was his _best friend_ besides Tommy and there was no way he had feelings for her he would have known.

Wouldn't he?

But then he thought back to their kiss just moments ago and how every cell in his body was screaming at him to kiss her back and he damn well knew that if she wasn't drunk and in such a mess he would have kissed her without hesitation.

And then it dawned on him that it wasn't anger he felt at seeing Felicity and those guys together, it was _jealousy._

And that the annoyance he had felt towards Tommy earlier was because she had messaged _him_ and not Oliver.

Just like that, everything seemed to fall into place.

He finally understood why he had bought her all those presents for Hanukkah and while he was right when he told Tommy that the reason was because they made her smile, it was also because he absolutely loved her smile.

_He loved making her smile._

Felicity smiled and flowers bloomed in his chest.

He also thought back to the night he ended up at her place after he basically ran from his house when his parents were fighting. He never had a destination in mind. He just needed to get away. But all of a sudden he had found himself in front of her house and something deep inside him said _yes_ and being there at that moment felt right.

Being with _her_ felt right.

Even since her first days at school, everyone making fun of her annoyed him to no end and he never had any idea why because he didn't even know this girl but there was something about her and then they were assigned as lab partners and he discovered that she babbled when she was nervous and she was adorable and fucking brilliant and that one of her was worth more than every stuck up rich brat in the building put together.

_He loved her._

That one thought kept repeating in his head over and over and it terrified him because he was only seventeen he didn't even know what love was and half the time he wasn't even sure if his parents had gotten it right and if they couldn't figure it out then who the hell was he.

What if he was wrong?

But Oliver had been with tons of girls and none of them had ever made him feel the way that Felicity did. With her, everything was different. _He_ was different. She made him want to be better.

However, he knew that no matter how hard he tried, he would never be good enough for her.

And just like that, all of the hopes for a possible future with the both of them were shattered.

Felicity was everything that was good in the world and Oliver was the guy who made out with a different girl at every party he went to and never remembered any of their names.

He pushed away the little voice that whispered that he hadn't even so much as looked at a girl recently and that maybe he could change because people didn't change. That was just a myth.

Felicity Smoak deserved all of the stars in the sky and Oliver would never be able to give her even one.

Very softly, he sighed sadly to himself as he broke out of his spell and was thrown back into reality again.

Quietly, he approached the bed and very carefully pulled the blanket over Felicity, making sure that she would be warm.

“Goodnight Felicity,” he whispered, those three syllables that he adored so much rolling off his tongue.

And then he collapsed on the floor, leaning against the bed as his thoughts battled one another in his brain, threatening to make his head explode.

Felicity only kissed him because she was drunk. She didn't know what she was doing. She would wake up in the morning and either not even remember or regret the whole thing.

This was what he repeated to himself over and over.

It was better for her if they remained friends.

All he would do was disappoint her the way he disappointed everyone else.

So he ignored the ache in his chest and the way that every bone in his body seemed to hurt because for once in his life he needed to not think of only himself.

He wasn't going to be selfish with her.

He was going to do what was right.

But a part of him couldn't help but think that if he was doing what was right then why did he feel so awful.

If this was right, then why did his heart feel broken?

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well here's that one bonus chapter that was promised from Oliver's POV. It's very hurriedly written because school's already killing me so I apologise. Anyway I just want to say a final thank you for everyone who read this story. You guys are the best. This is it. It's completely over now. But writing this was a lot of fun and you guys are what gave me the motivation to actually finish it and everything so thank you all so much. Thank you for reading.

**Author's Note:**

> So I decided to do a Christmas story. Hope everyone likes it and thanks for reading!


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